2012 Arab Cup

The 2012 Arab Cup (كأس العرب 2012) was the ninth edition of the Arab Cup for national football teams affiliated with the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA).

The tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia between 22 June and 6 July 2012. It is the second time that the nation has hosted the tournament, the first being in 1985. This edition witnessed the return of Iraq – the most successful team and record holder of the Arab Cup with four titles – after a 25-year absence due to the Gulf War.

Prize money
The tournament's lead sponsor was Singaporean company World Sport Group who describe themselves as "Asia's leading sports marketing, media and event management company."

The winner received USD$1million, the runner-up received $600,000, the third-placed team received $300,000, while the other participating football associations received $200,000 each.

Participating

 * Bold indicates champion for that year
 * 1 Libya were due to send their under-21 team but instead sent its senior national team.

Did not enter

 * Africa
 * 🇰🇲 comoros
 * 🇩🇯 djibouti
 * 🇸🇴 somalia
 * 🇹🇳 tunisia
 * 🇸🇴 somalia
 * 🇹🇳 tunisia


 * Asia
 * 🇯🇴 jordan
 * 🇶🇦 qatar
 * 🇸🇾 syrian arab republic
 * 🇸🇾 syrian arab republic

Draw
The official draw was held on 6 May 2012 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The remaining 11 teams were ranked based on the FIFA World Rankings of May 2012 before the draw.

The United Arab Emirates withdrew from the competition after the group draw had been made; they were initially drawn into group A.

It will be played as tournament with three groups made of four teams each. The organizer country, Saudi Arabia was assigned to Group A.

Match officials
The following referees were chosen for the 2012 Arab Cup.

Referees

 * Djamel Haimoudi
 * Nawaf Shukralla
 * Mahmoud Ashour
 * Gehad Grisha
 * Suleiman Dalqam
 * Redouane Jaid
 * Abdullah Al-Baloushi
 * Abdulrahman Al-Amri
 * Khalid Abdel Rahman
 * Selim Jedidi
 * Hamad Al-Shaikh Hashmi

Assistant referees

 * Abdelhak Etchiali
 * Aziz Ali Hasan Al-Wadi
 * Ayman Dagesh
 * Sherif Saleh
 * Ahmad Al-Ruwaili
 * Fouad Al-Maghribi
 * Bouazza Rouani
 * Ramzan Al-Nuaimi
 * Abdulaziz Al-Asmari
 * Waleed Ali Ahmad
 * Bechir Hassani
 * Ahmed Mohammed Saeed Al-Shamisi
 * Ahmed Qaid Saif

Best placed runner-up
The team that finish highest of all group runners-up will also proceed to the semi-final stage. Due to Group A only having three teams in their group, results against teams finishing fourth will not be counted. The best runners-up will face the winner of group A in the semifinals while the winner of group B will face the winner of group C.

Knockout phase
The semi-final winners proceed to the final and those who lost compete in the third place playoff.

Awards

 * 🇲🇦 Yassine Salhi – was named the player of the tournament, and was the top scorer of the tournament with a total of 6 goals.

Team statistics

 * colspan="10"|Eliminated in the group stage
 * colspan="10"|Eliminated in the group stage