2012 Algarve Cup
The 2012 Algarve Cup was the nineteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It began on 29 February and ended on 7 March 2012.
Format
The twelve invited teams were split into three groups that played a round-robin tournament.Groups A and B, containing the strongest ranked teams, were the only ones in contention to win the title. The group winners from A and B contested the final, with the runners-up playing for third place and those that finished third in these two groups playing for fifth place.
The teams in Group C were playing for places 7–12, with the winner of Group C playing the team that finished fourth in Group A or B with the better record for seventh place and the Group C runner-up playing the team which came last in Group A or B with the worse record for ninth place. The third and fourth-placed teams in Group C played for the eleventh place.
Points awarded in the group stage followed the standard formula of three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. In the case of two teams being tied on the same number of points in a group, their head-to-head result determined the higher place.
Teams
Listed are the confirmed teams.| Team | FIFA Rankings |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 5 | |
| 12 | |
| 12 | |
| 15 | |
| 18 | |
| 29 | |
| 34 | |
| 43 | |
| 46 |
Match officials
| Country | Assistant referees |
 Group stage''All times are local.''Group A-------- ---- ---- ---- Group B-------- ---- ---- ---- Group C-------- ---- ---- ---- Goalscorers;6 goals;5 goals ;3 goals ;2 goals
|