2012 Algarve Cup
The 2012 Algarve Cup was the nineteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational Women's [association football|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 [Women's World Rankings|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
|