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2012 AFC Challenge Cup
एएफसी च्यालेन्ज कप फुटबल-२०१२
	Logo of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Nepal
Dates	8–19 March
Teams	8
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	North Korea (2nd title)
Runners-up	Turkmenistan
Third place	Philippines
Fourth place	Palestine
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	42 (2.63 per match)
Attendance	50,000 (3,125 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Phil Younghusband ; (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Pak Nam-chol
	← 2010 2014 →

The 2012 AFC Challenge Cup was the fourth edition of the tournament, an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging countries" in the defunct Vision Asia programme. It took place in Nepal from 8–19 March 2012.^[1] Unlike in previous editions of the tournament, there were no automatic qualifiers. Therefore, 2010 champions North Korea, runners-up Turkmenistan, and third-placed Tajikistan had to navigate the qualification phase in order to return to the finals.^[2] North Korea successfully defended their title and qualified for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.^[3]

Hosts

Maldives, Nepal, and Palestine expressed an interest to bid to host the tournament. A decision on which country would be hosts was set to be made by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on 14 June 2011,^[4] but was deferred until the AFC Executive Committee on 29 July 2011.^[5] The committee decided to endorse Nepal as the hosts of the AFC Challenge Cup 2012 Finals.^[6]

Venues

Kathmandu
Dasarath Rangasala Stadium	Halchowk Stadium
Capacity: 17,800	Capacity: 3,500

Kathmandu

Qualification

The qualification stage saw 20 eligible member associations compete in qualifiers.^[7]

An initial pre-qualifying round (home and away) narrowed the field to 16 teams.
The final qualifying round consist of four groups of four teams each with the group winners and runners-up qualifying.
Only the eight teams that qualified for the tournament finals were permitted to bid to be hosts.

Qualified nations

Palestine – Qualification Group A winners
Philippines – Qualification Group A runners-up
India – Qualification Group B winners
Turkmenistan – Qualification Group B runners-up
Maldives – Qualification Group C winners
Tajikistan – Qualification Group C runners-up
North Korea – Qualification Group D winners
Nepal – Qualification Group D runners-up

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 1 December 2011 at the Soaltee Crown Plaza Hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal.^[8]

Squads

Each team could name a squad of 23 players.^[9]

Group stage

All times are Nepal Time (NPT) – UTC+5:45

Key to colours in group tables
Top two placed teams advance to the semi-finals

Tie-breaking criteria

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss) and tie breakers are in following order:^[9]

Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
Goal difference in all the group matches;
Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
Kicks from the penalty mark if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches; (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for each direct red card, 4 points for each yellow card followed by a direct red card)
Drawing of lots.

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Turkmenistan	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7
Palestine	3	2	1	0	4	0	+4	7
Maldives	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
Nepal	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6	0

Source: RSSSF

8 March 2012

15:00

Turkmenistan	3–1	Maldives
Mingazow 33' Çoňkaýew 78' Amanow 85'	Report	Adhuham 20'

Halchowk Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Yousef Al-Marzouq (Kuwait)

8 March 2012