Qualification
- United Arab Emirates qualified automatically as host
- Japan qualified automatically as defending champions
33 teams participated in a preliminary tournament. It was divided into 10 groups and the first-placed team of each group thus qualified.
The other 10 qualifying teams were:
- China PR
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- South Korea
- Kuwait
- Saudi Arabia
- Syria
- Thailand
- Uzbekistan
Read more about this topic: 1996 AFC Asian Cup