| Tourney Name: | AFC Cup |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Num Teams: | 30+3 |
| Associations: | 18 |
| Champion Other: | Al-Kuwait |
| Count: | 2 |
| Second Other: |  Erbil |
| Matches: | 118 |
| Goals: | 366 |
| Top Scorer: | Amjad Radhi Raja Rafe(9 goals each)[1] |
| Player: |  Rogerinho[2] |
| Prevseason: | 2011 |
| Nextseason: | 2013 |
The 2012 AFC Cup was the ninth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia.
Al-Kuwait from Kuwait won their second AFC Cup title in four years, defeating Erbil from Iraq 4–0 in the final.[3]
The following allocation of berths for the 2012 AFC Cup was approved by the AFC in November 2011.[4] [5] The four associations (Yemen, Malaysia, Maldives and Myanmar) with the lowest points according to the AFC evaluation system had one team entering the group stage and another entering the play-off.[4]
| +West Asia | |||||
| Pos | Member Association | Points | Spots | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=15% | Group stage | width=15% | Play-off | ||
| — | 2012 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off final round losers | — | 2 | 0 | |
| 1 | Kuwait | 35.32 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2 |  Jordan | 33.47 | 2 | 0 | |
| 3 | Syria | 30.28 | 2 | 0 | |
| 4 | Iraq | 28.98 | 2 | 0 | |
| 5 |  Bahrain | 28.13 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Oman | 20.68 | 2 | 0 | |
| 11 | Lebanon | 15.09 | 2 | 0 | |
| 12 |  India | 11.75 | 2 | 0 | |
| 13 |  Yemen | 11.02 | 1 | 1 | |
| 15 |  Maldives | 9.13 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 19 | 2 | |||
| +East Asia | |||||
| Pos | Member Association | Points | Spots | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=15% | Group stage | width=15% | Play-off | ||
| — | 2012 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off final round loser | — | 2 | 0 | |
| 6 | Vietnam | 24.16 | 2 | 0 | |
| 8 |  Indonesia | 17.58 | 1 | 0 | |
| 9 | Singapore | 16.51 | 2 | 0 | |
| 10 |  Hong Kong | 15.68 | 2 | 0 | |
| 14 | Malaysia | 10.79 | 1 | 1 | |
| 16 | Myanmar | 5.47 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 11 | 2 | |||
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:[4]
| Group stage direct entrants: East Asia Zone (Groups F–H) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Qualifying method | App | Last App | |
 Chonburi | 2012 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off final round loser | 3rd | 2011 | |
| Kitchee | 2010–11 Hong Kong First Division League champions | 2nd | 2008 | |
| Citizen | 2010–11 Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield winners | 1st | none | |
| Arema | 2010–11 Indonesia Super League runners-up | 1st | none | |
| Kelantan | 2011 Malaysia Super League champions | 1st | none | |
| Terengganu | 2011 Malaysia FA Cup winners | 1st | none | |
| Yangon United | 2011 Myanmar National League champions 2011 MFF Cup winners | 1st | none | |
| Ayeyawady United | 2011 Myanmar National League runners-up | 1st | none | |
| Tampines Rovers | 2011 S.League champions | 5th | 2011 | |
| Home United | 2011 Singapore Cup winners | 6th | 2009 | |
| Sông Lam Nghệ An | 2011 V-League champions | 2nd | 2011 | |
| Navibank Sài Gòn | 2011 Vietnamese Cup winners | 1st | none | |
Schedule of dates for 2012 competition.[9]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying play-offs | Finals | 6 December 2011 | 18 February 2012 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 6–7 March 2012 | ||
| Matchday 2 | 20–21 March 2012 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 3–4 April 2012 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 10–11 April 2012 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 24–25 April 2012 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 8–9 May 2012 | |||
| Knockout phase | Round of 16 | 22–23 May 2012 | ||
| Quarter-finals | 14 June 2012 | 18 September 2012 | 25 September 2012 | |
| Semi-finals | 2 October 2012 | 23 October 2012 | ||
| Final | 3 November 2012 | |||
See main article: 2012 AFC Cup qualifying play-off.
The draw for the qualifying play-off was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6 December 2011.[10] The winner advanced to the group stage.[11]
!colspan="3"|West Asia Zone|}
See main article: 2012 AFC Cup group stage.
The draw for the group stage was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6 December 2011.[13] 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.[11]
See main article: 2012 AFC Cup knockout stage.
The matchups for the round of 16 were decided based on the results from the group stage.[14] 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).[11]
|}
The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 June 2012.[15] It determined the matchups for the quarter-finals and semi-finals as well as the potential host for the final.[16]
|}
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See main article: 2012 AFC Cup final.
The final of the 2012 AFC Cup was hosted by one of the finalists, decided by a draw.[11] According to the draw on 14 June 2012, the winner of semi-final 2 would host the final.[17] Therefore, Erbil was the home team.
| 2012 AFC Cup Al-Kuwait 2nd Title |
| Rank | Player | Club | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amjad Radhi | Erbil | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | |||||
| Raja Rafe | Al-Shorta | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | |||||||
| 3 | Mohammed Ghaddar | Kelantan | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |||||||
 Sebastián Tagliabué | Al-Ettifaq | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||||
 Edison Fonseca | Navibank Sài Gòn | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |||||||||
| 6 | Rogerinho | Al-Kuwait | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||||
| 7 | Mahmoud Shelbaieh | Al-Wehdat | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |||||||
| Abdulhadi Khamis | Al-Kuwait | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| 9 | Ahmed Hayel | Al-Faisaly | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| Yousef Nasser | Kazma | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| Pipob On-Mo | Chonburi | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
