2012 Arab Cup

2012 Arab Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Saudi Arabia
Dates	22 June – 6 July
Teams	11 (from 2 confederations)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Morocco (1st title)
Runners-up	Libya
Third place	Iraq
Fourth place	Saudi Arabia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	19
Goals scored	47 (2.47 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Yassine Salhi (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Yassine Salhi
← 2009 (FIFA Arab Cup) 2021 →

The 2012 Arab Cup (Arabic: 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.^[1] 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.

The tournament's lead sponsor was Singaporean company World Sport Group^[2] who describe themselves as "Asia's leading sports marketing, media and event management company."^[3]

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.^[4]

Country	Confederation	Previous appearances in tournament
Bahrain	AFC	4 (1966, 1985, 1988, 2002)
Egypt (Olympic team)[5]	CAF	3 (1988, 1992, 1998)
Iraq	AFC	4 (1964, 1966, 1985, 1988)
Kuwait	AFC	7 (1963, 1964, 1966, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2002)
Lebanon	AFC	6 (1963, 1964, 1966, 1988, 1998, 2002)
Libya1	CAF	3 (1964, 1966, 1998)
Morocco (Local team)	CAF	2 (1998, 2002)
Palestine	AFC	3 (1966, 1992, 2002)
Saudi Arabia	AFC	5 (1985, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2002)
Sudan	CAF	2 (1998, 2002)
Yemen	AFC	2 (1966, 2002)

Bold indicates champion for that year

¹Libya were due to send their under-21 team but instead sent its senior national team.^[6][7]

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.

Seeding pots	Nation	FIFA Rankingas of May 2012
Pot A	Saudi Arabia	89
	Libya	39
	Egypt	55
Pot B	Morocco	62
	Iraq	70
	Kuwait	87
Pot C	Bahrain	93
	Sudan	113
	United Arab Emirates	121
Pot D	Lebanon	128
	Palestine	153
	Yemen	156

The United Arab Emirates withdrew from the competition after the group draw had been made; they were initially drawn into group A.^[10]

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

Jeddah	Jeddah Ta’if	Ta’if
Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium		King Fahd Stadium
Capacity: 20,000		Capacity: 17,000

The following referees were chosen for the 2012 Arab Cup.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	2	1	1	0	6	2	+4	4
Kuwait	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3
Palestine	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Morocco A'	3	2	1	0	8	0	+8	7
Libya	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
Yemen	3	1	0	2	3	7	−4	3
Bahrain	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iraq	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Sudan	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
Egypt U23	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2
Lebanon	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

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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.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Libya	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4
Kuwait	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3
Sudan	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2

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

	Semi-finals				Final
	3 July – Jeddah
	Saudi Arabia	0
					6 July – Jeddah
	Libya	2
					Libya	1 (1)
	3 July – Jeddah
					Morocco A' (pen.)	1 (3)
	Morocco A'	2
	Iraq	1
					Third place
					5 July – Jeddah
					Saudi Arabia	0
					Iraq	1

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2012 Arab Cup champions
Morocco First title

^[11]

There were 47 goals scored in 19 matches, for an average of 2.47 goals per match.

6 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

• Yassine Salhi – was named the player of the tournament, and was the top scorer of the tournament with a total of 6 goals.^[12]

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	GF	GA	GD
1	Morocco A'	5	3	2	0	11	11	2	+9
2	Libya	5	3	2	0	11	8	3	+5
3	Iraq	5	3	1	1	10	6	4	+2
4	Saudi Arabia	4	1	1	2	4	6	5	+1
Eliminated in the group stage
5	Kuwait	2	1	0	1	3	2	4	−2
6	Sudan	3	1	2	0	5	4	2	+2
7	Yemen	3	1	0	2	3	3	7	−4
8	Egypt U23	3	0	2	1	2	3	4	−1
9	Palestine	2	0	1	1	1	2	4	−2
10	Lebanon	3	0	1	2	1	1	4	−3
11	Bahrain	3	0	0	3	0	1	8	−7
Total		19(1)	13	6(2)	13	51	47	47	0

Team(s) rendered in italics represent(s) the host nation(s). The competition's winning team is rendered in bold.
⁽¹⁾ – Total games lost not counted in total games played (total games lost = total games won)
⁽²⁾ – Total number of games drawn (tied) for all teams = Total number of games drawn (tied) ÷ 2 (both teams involved)

Territory	Channel
Qatar	BeIN Sports
Saudi Arabia	Al-Riyadiah