| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Portugal | 
| Dates | 29 February – 7 March | 
| Teams | 12 (from 3 confederations) | 
| Venue(s) | 9 (in 9 host cities) | 
| Final positions | |
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 24 | 
| Goals scored | 62 (2.58 per match) | 
| Top scorer(s) |   (6 goals)  | 
| Best player(s) |   | 
← 2011   2013 →  | |
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.
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.
Listed are the confirmed teams. [1]
| Team |  FIFA Rankings  (December 2011)  | 
|---|---|
1  | |
2  | |
3  | |
5  | |
12  | |
15  | |
18  | |
29  | |
34  | |
43  | |
46  | 
| Country | Referee | Assistant referees | 
|---|---|---|
|   | Salomé di Iorio | |
|   | Liang Qin | Yongmei Cui Yan Fang  | 
|   | Irazema Aguilera | |
|   | Jana Adámková | Adriana Šecová | 
|   | Katalin Kulcsár | |
|   | Carina Vitulano | Manuela Nicolosi | 
|   | Nami Sato | Emi Chiba Chie Ohata  | 
|   | Lucila Venegas | Enedina Caudillo | 
|   | Morag Pirie | |
|   | Abirami Apbai | |
|   | Pernilla Larsson | |
|   | Aissata Amegee | |
|   | Margaret Domka | 
| Country | Assistant referees | 
|---|---|
|   | Marie-Josée Charbonneau | 
|   | Luzmila Gonzalez | 
|   | Kimberly Moreira | 
|   | Sanja Rodak | 
|   | Angela Kyriakou | 
|   | Milagros Leonardo | 
|   | Sian Massey | 
|   | Marisol Salazar | 
|   | Stacey Greyson | 
|   | Nadia Weiler | 
|   | Petruta Iugulsecu | 
|   | Eveline Bolli | 
|   | Supawan Hinthong | 
|   | Diana Mukasa | 
|   | Thi Kieu | 
| Country | Fourth official | 
|---|---|
|   | Salomé di Iorio | 
|   | Liang Qin | 
|   | Irazema Aguilera | 
|   | Jana Adámková | 
|   | Katalin Kulcsár | 
|   | Carina Vitulano | 
|   | Nami Sato | 
|   | Lucila Venegas | 
|   | Morag Pirie | 
|   | Abirami Apbai | 
|   | Pernilla Larsson | 
|   | Aissata Amegee | 
|   | Margaret Domka | 
All times are local (WET/UTC+0).
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 9 | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0 | 
|  Sweden   | 0–4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |  Okoyino da Mbabi  Popp  | 
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 9 | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 6 | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 3 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 0 | 
|  Japan   | 1–0 | |
|---|---|---|
|  Takase  | Report | 
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 7 | |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | –4 | 3 | |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 | 
|  Republic of Ireland   | 0–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |  Sipos  | 
|  Portugal   | 2–1 | |
|---|---|---|
|  Borges  | Report |  Quinn  | 
|  Iceland   | 1–3 | |
|---|---|---|
|  Magnúsdóttir  | Report |  Troelsgaard Nielsen  Rasmussen  | 
| Rank | Team | 
|---|---|
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 | 
| 2012 Algarve Cup | 
|---|
Germany Second title  |