2012 Arab Cup

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).

2012 Arab Cup
Tournament details
Host countrySaudi Arabia
Dates22 June – 6 July
Teams11 (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 played19
Goals scored47 (2.47 per match)
Top scorer(s)Morocco Yassine Salhi
(6 goals)
Best player(s)Morocco Yassine Salhi

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.

Prize money

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]

Teams

Participating
CountryConfederationPrevious appearances in tournament
 BahrainAFC4 (1966, 1985, 1988, 2002)
 Egypt (Olympic team)[5]CAF3 (1988, 1992, 1998)
 IraqAFC4 (1964, 1966, 1985, 1988)
 KuwaitAFC7 (1963, 1964, 1966, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2002)
 LebanonAFC6 (1963, 1964, 1966, 1988, 1998, 2002)
 Libya1CAF3 (1964, 1966, 1998)
 Morocco (Local team)CAF2 (1998, 2002)
 PalestineAFC3 (1966, 1992, 2002)
 Saudi ArabiaAFC5 (1985, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2002)
 SudanCAF2 (1998, 2002)
 YemenAFC2 (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]

Did not enter

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.

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.

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

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2012 Arab Cup.

Referees

Assistant referees
  • Algeria Abdelhak Etchiali
  • Bahrain Aziz Ali Hasan Al-Wadi
  • Egypt Ayman Dagesh
  • Egypt Sherif Saleh
  • Jordan Ahmad Al-Ruwaili
  • Libya Fouad Al-Maghribi
  • Morocco Bouazza Rouani
  • Qatar Ramzan Al-Nuaimi
  • Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz Al-Asmari
  • Sudan Waleed Ali Ahmad
  • Tunisia Bechir Hassani
  • United Arab Emirates Ahmed Mohammed Saeed Al-Shamisi
  • Yemen Ahmed Qaid Saif

Squads
Further information: 2012 Arab Cup squads

Group stage

Group A

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
Source:
Saudi Arabia 4–0 Kuwait
Al-Sahlawi 22', 90+3'
Al-Mehyani 51', 56'		 Report
Referee: Gehad Grisha (Egypt)
Kuwait 2–0 Palestine
Khamis 27'
Al-Rashidi 90+2'
Referee: Hamad Al-Sheikh (United Arab Emirates)
Saudi Arabia 2–2 Palestine
Al-Ruwaili 9'
Al-Zylaeei 85'		 Report Abu Saleh 45+1' (pen.)
Al Amour 73'
Referee: Khalid Abdel Rahman (Sudan)

Group B

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
Source:
Morocco A' 4–0 Bahrain
El Bahri 17'
Salhi 78'
Al-Hayam 83' (o.g.)
Benjelloun 90+'
Libya 3–1 Yemen
Saad 17' (pen.)
Salama 53'
Al-Ghuwail 89'		 Al-Sasi 69'
Referee: Suleiman Jaber (Jordan)
Bahrain 0–2 Yemen
Al-Selwi 53' (pen.)
Baroies 65'
Libya 0–0 Morocco A'
Libya 2–1 Bahrain
Saad 71' (pen.)
Al Ghanodi 74'		 Al-Khataal 38'
Referee: Hamad Al-Sheikh (UAE)
Yemen 0–4 Morocco A'
Salhi 10' (pen.), 48', 58', 63' (pen.)
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Amri (Saudi Arabia)

Group C

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
Source:
Iraq 1–0 Lebanon
Karim 89'
Referee: Rédouane Jiyed (Morocco)
Egypt U23 1–1 Sudan
Magdi 38' Elamin 80'
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Amri (Saudi Arabia)
Lebanon 0–2 Sudan
Ankba 55'
Bashir 83'
Referee: Suleiman Jaber (Jordan)
Iraq 2–1 Egypt U23
Karim 49'
Abdul-Zahra 75'		 Gomaa 45' (pen.)
Egypt U23 1–1 Lebanon
Hamoudi 45+1' (pen.) Moghrabi 80'
Referee: Rédouane Jiyed (Morocco)
Sudan 1–1 Iraq
Ahmed 9' Shakir 5'

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.

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
Source:

Knockout phase

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

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
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

Semi-finals
Saudi Arabia 0–2 Libya
Al-Sebaee 75'
Saad 90+6' (pen.)
Referee: Gehad Grisha (Egypt)
Morocco A' 2–1 Iraq
El Gharib 23'
Salhi 28'		 Karim 90+6' (pen.)

Third place play-off
Saudi Arabia 0–1 Iraq
Report Abdul-Zahra 16'
Referee: Khalid Abdurrahman (Sudan)

Final
Main article: 2012 Arab Cup Final
Libya 1–1 (a.e.t.) Morocco A'
Al Badri 89' El Bahri 5'
Penalties
Al Badri soccer ball with check mark
Salama soccer ball with red X
Al-Sbaai soccer ball with red X
Al Ghanodi soccer ball with red X		 1–3 soccer ball with check mark Salhi
soccer ball with check mark Jahouh
soccer ball with red X Abdessamad
soccer ball with red X Gadoum
soccer ball with check mark Belmaalem
Attendance: 2,500

Winners
 2012 Arab Cup champions 

Morocco
First title

[11]

Statistics

Goalscorers

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

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

Team statistics
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)

Media

Broadcasting
Territory Channel
 Qatar BeIN Sports
 Saudi Arabia Al-Riyadiah

References
  1. الإتحاد المغربي يرفض مشاركة المنتخب في البطولة العربية بالمحترفين (in Arabic). kooora.com. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  2. جوائز مالية محفزة للمنتخبات المشاركة في كأس العرب (in Arabic). Middle East Online. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  3. "World Sports : About us". worldsportgroup.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  4. مليون دولار للفائز بكأس العرب و200 ألف لكل منتخب مشارك (in Arabic). alyaum.net. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 14 May 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  5. المنتخب الأوليمبى يشارك فى كأس العرب بجدة. EFA.com (in Arabic). Egyptian Football Association. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  6. "9th Arab Cup: Easy Win for Libya Against Yemen". Tripoli Post. 24 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012. Contrary to expectations Libya fielded the national team instead of the Under 21 side and they proved much too strong for their opponents.
  7. "9th Arab Cup: Libya in action against Yemen Saturday". Tripoli Post. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012. In Group B, Libya, which is scheduled to field its Under 21 team, has to contend with Yemen, its first opponents, Morocco and Bahrain.
  8. الجزائر تعتذر عن المشاركة في بطولة كأس العرب للأمم (in Arabic). Al Jazeera Sport. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  9. الأردن يعتذر عن المشاركة في كأس العرب (in Arabic). Al Jazeera Sport. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  10. "UAE pulls out of Arab Cup of Nations after loss of players hits squad". The National. United Arab Emirates. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  11. "Morocco wins Arab Cup 2012 title". alarabiya.net. Al Arabia News. 7 July 2012. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  12. "حصاد كأس العرب .. 47 هدفاً و اسود أطلس يعانقون اللقب للمرة الأولى". كووورة - أحمد التيمومي. 7 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
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