Football at the 2018 Asian Games – Men's tournament

Teams in a group are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.[1]

1. Highest number of points obtained in all group matches;
2. Highest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. Highest number of goals scored from all group matches between the teams concerned;
5. If two or more teams have equal ranking with the criteria so far, reapply the criteria above only for them. If this re-application gives no more ranking, apply the following criteria.
6. Goal difference in all group matches;
7. Highest number of goals scored in all group matches;
8. Kicks from the penalty mark only if two (2) teams are involved and they are both on the field of play.
9. Fewer points of yellow/red cards in all group matches (only one of these deductions shall be applied to a player in a single match):
   • First yellow card: 1 point;
   • Indirect red card (second yellow card): 3 points;
   • Direct red card: 3 points;
   • Yellow card followed by direct red card: 4 points;
10. Drawing of lots

Third-placed teams from the three groups are ranked according to the following criteria, after the result against the fifth-placed team of group A are excluded in order to rank them with the same numbers of matches.[1]

1. Highest number of points obtained in all group matches;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Highest number of goals scored in all group matches;
4. Fewer points of yellow/red cards in all group matches (only one of these deductions shall be applied to a player in a single match):
   • First yellow card: 1 point;
   • Indirect red card (second yellow card): 3 points;
   • Direct red card: 3 points;
   • Yellow card followed by direct red card: 4 points;
5. Drawing of lots

In order to ensure equality when comparing the third-placed team of all groups, the result of the match against the 5th-placed team in Group A was ignored due to the other groups having only four teams.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Hong Kong	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	F	Saudi Arabia	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	E	Bahrain	3	1	1	1	5	10	−5	4
4	C	United Arab Emirates	3	1	0	2	5	4	+1	3
5	D	Pakistan	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
6	B	Thailand	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

There were 165 goals scored in 56 matches, for an average of 2.95 goals per match.

9 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
Note: In order to ensure equality, for teams in five-team groups, their match against the fifth-placed teams are excluded when considering the ranking.

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
	South Korea	7	6	0	1	19	7	+12	18
	Japan	7	5	0	2	10	4	+6	15
	United Arab Emirates	7	1	3	3	9	9	0	6
4	Vietnam	7	5	1	1	10	4	+6	16
Eliminated in the Quarter-finals
5	Uzbekistan	5	4	0	1	16	4	+12	12
6	Syria	5	3	0	2	7	6	+1	9
7	North Korea	5	2	2	1	8	6	+2	8
8	Saudi Arabia	5	2	1	2	8	8	0	7
Eliminated in the Round of 16
9	China	4	3	0	1	14	5	+9	9
10	Indonesia	5	3	1	1	13	5	+8	10
11	Palestine	5	2	2	1	5	4	+1	8
12	Malaysia	4	2	0	2	7	6	+1	6
13	Iran	4	1	1	2	3	4	–1	4
14	Hong Kong	5	2	1	2	9	8	+1	7
15	Bangladesh	4	1	1	2	3	7	–4	4
16	Bahrain	4	1	1	2	5	11	–6	4
Third place in the group stage
17	Pakistan	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
18	Thailand	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
Fourth place in the group stage
19	Myanmar	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
20	Kyrgyzstan	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1
21	Qatar	3	0	1	2	1	8	−7	1
22	Nepal	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0
23	Laos	4	1	0	3	4	8	−4	3
24	East Timor	3	0	0	3	3	15	−12	0
Fifth place in the group stage
25	Chinese Taipei	4	0	1	3	0	10	−10	1