The 2012 AFC Cup was the ninth edition of the

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia.

Al-Kuwait Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...

from Kuwait won their second AFC Cup title in four years, defeating

Erbil Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000. Hu ...

from Iraq with a 4–0 win in the final.

Allocation of entries per association

The following allocation of berths for the 2012 AFC Cup was approved by the AFC in November 2011. The four associations (Yemen, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar) with the lowest points according to the AFC evaluation system have one team entering the group stage and one team entering the play-off. ;Notes * Different from previous seasons where losers of the AFC Champions League qualifying play-off semi-final round also entered the AFC Cup, from 2012 only losers of the AFC Champions League qualifying play-off final round entered the AFC Cup. * Kuwait have three teams entering as

, the

2011 AFC Cup The 2011 AFC Cup was the eighth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Allocation of entries per association *2 teams to qualify from each ...

runners-up failed to fulfil the criteria set by AFC to compete in the 2012 AFC Champions League, and thus directly entered the 2012 AFC Cup. * Bahrain, while eligible to enter the AFC Cup, chose not to participate in 2012. * Indonesia only have one team entering as their league champion entered the

2012 AFC Champions League The 2012 AFC Champions League was the 31st edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 10th under the current AFC Champions League title. Ulsan Hyundai from South Korea wo ...

qualifying play-off. * Malaysia returned to the competition, after not participating in 2011. *

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

applied for upgrade from the AFC President's Cup to the AFC Cup, and was approved by the AFC in November 2011, and made their debut in the competition. * After the withdrawal of Liaoning Whowin and disqualification of Persipura Jayapura from the

qualifying play-off East Asia Zone, only three teams were left, meaning only one final round loser would enter the AFC Cup in the East Asia Zone instead of two. As a result, no qualifying play-off was necessary for the East Asia Zone and both the second representatives from Malaysia ( Terengganu) and Myanmar (

Ayeyawady United Ayeyawady United Football Club ( my, ဧရာဝတီယူနိုက်တက် ဘောလုံးအသင်း) is a Burmese football club, based at Pathein Stadium in Pathein, Myanmar. The club was a founding member of the Myanmar ...

), which were originally slated to enter the AFC Cup qualifying play-off, automatically advanced to the group stage. Persipura Jayapura were later provisionally reinstated to the 2012 AFC Champions League, but the AFC decided that the loser of the qualifying play-off match between Adelaide United and Persipura Jayapura would not advance to the 2012 AFC Cup group stage.

Qualified teams

A total of 33 teams participated in the 2012 AFC Cup, including 3 teams which joined as 2012 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off final round losers: *31 teams (19 in West Asia Zone, 12 in East Asia Zone) directly entered the group stage. *2 teams (both in West Asia Zone) competed in the qualifying play-off. The winners qualified for the group stage. ;Notes *^† Al-Oruba were the second representative from Oman, instead of Dhofar, the

2011 Sultan Qaboos Cup The 2011 Sultan Qaboos Cup was the 39th edition of the Sultan Qaboos Cup ( ar, كأس السلطان قابوس), the premier knockout tournament for football teams in Oman. The competition began on 16 September 2011 with the qualification round a ...

winners.

Schedule

Schedule of dates for 2012 competition.

Qualifying play-off

The draw for the qualifying play-off was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6 December 2011. The winner advanced to the group stage. !colspan="3", West Asia Zone ;Notes *Note 1: Due to the political crisis in Yemen, the AFC decided to switch the venue from

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

, Yemen to Malé, Maldives.

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6 December 2011. Clubs from the same country may not be drawn into the same group. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the

knockout stage A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout stage

Round of 16

The matchups for the round of 16 were decided based on the results from the group stage. Each tie was played as one match, hosted by the winners of each group (''Team 1'') against the runners-up of another group (''Team 2'').

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 June 2012. It determined the matchups for the quarter-finals and semi-finals as well as the potential host for the final.

Semi-finals

Final

The final of the 2012 AFC Cup was hosted by one of the finalists, decided by a draw. According to the draw on 14 June 2012, the winner of semi-final 2 would host the final. Therefore,

was the home team.

Top scorers

Note: Goals scored in qualifying play-off not counted. Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Cup 2012 2

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...