Debutants 
Despite exiting the tournament in the group stage, newcomers Oman scored three goals in total, on par with Chinese Taipei and seven-time quarter-finalists Lebanon and two more than Korea Republic.

Korea Republic enjoyed the best of starts at the Saad Al Abdullah Hall after scoring the fastest goal of Kuwait 2022 when an unmarked Shin Jong-hoon volleyed home Kim Yun-young’s corner kick within 22 seconds. 

Japan’s Guilherme Kuromoto produced the most number of saves (38) throughout the tournament, with teammate Higor Pires making two less, while Iran’s Saeid Momeni raked in 29 saves.

Only four players hit hat-tricks in the competition – Iraq’s Salim Faisal (v Oman), Tajikistan’s Idris Yorov (v Turkmenistan) and Iran’s Saeid Ahmadabbasi (v Chinese Taipei) and Hossein Tayyebi (v Chinese Taipei, Vietnam).

Out of the four players, only Tajikistan’s Idris Yorov (pictured below) scored four in a match, while Hossein Tayyebi of Iran was the only player to claim two hat-tricks.

Only two teams managed to stay unbeaten in the group stages – Iran and Uzbekistan advanced  with a perfect haul of nine points.

The Group B fixture between Tajikistan and Turkmenistan was the highest scoring game in the competition with Tajikistan scoring eight times in the 13-goal thriller.  

Goal poacher
If there was ever a doubt about Hossein Tayyebi’s scoring abilities, the Iran captain underlined his superiority on the court with an amazing performance, scoring 10 goals in six matches to win the tournament top scorer. Amazingly, he was also the top scorer in the 2014 and 2018 editions. 

Despite falling in the final, Iran produced a breathtaking performance and showed how dangerous they are in front of goal,scoring 39 goals in six matches.

A tale of two teams
Finalists Japan and Iran both suffered losses but at opposite ends of their respective campaigns with the East Asians losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia on Matchday One of the group stage, while Iran’s only defeat came in the final. 

Japan’s triumph - their fourth - means Kuwait 2022 ended with just two teams having lifted the coveted trophy with Iran way ahead with 12 title triumphs.

The Kuwait-Uzbek quarter-final match had the highest turnout of 3,406 fans while the final was watched by 1,938.