The qualification for the 1976 AFC Asian Cup consisted of 17 teams in four groups. The winner and runners-up of each group would join hosts Iran in the final tournament.
Groups Group 1Group 2Group 3Group 4*
* Withdrew Iran qualified as host and defending champions Israel and Taiwan were expelled from AFC in 1974
Qualification Group 1
All the others withdrew, so Kuwait and South Yemen qualified automatically.
Group 2 All matches played in Iraq.
Iraq and Saudi Arabia qualified for the final tournament. Saudi Arabia eventually withdrew from the competition.
Group 3 All matches played in Hong Kong.
Group allocation matches where winners were divided into separate groups.
Group 3A
Group 3B
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
North Korea and China qualified for the final tournament. North Korea eventually withdrew from the competition.
Group 4 All matches played in Thailand.
Malaysia and Thailand qualified for the final tournament. Thailand eventually withdrew from the competition.
Qualified teams Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearance Automatically qualified from Group 1 1975 Automatically qualified from Group 1 1975 0 (debut) 2 December 1975 2 December 1975 0 (debut) 24 June 1975 0 (debut) 23 June 1975 0 (debut) 23 March 1975 0 (debut) 24 March 1975 1 (1972)
Goalscorers
Notes
References
Singapore grouped with Burma in Asian Cup: The Straits Times, 23 November 1973, Page 29 S'pore have an uphill task in Asian Cup tournament: The Straits Times, 20 December 1974, Page 35 Japan's goals from 1970 - 1979: https://www.rsssf.org/tablesj/jap-intres1970.html
External links Details at RSSSF