2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification

The 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification phase saw eight teams advance to the final tournament in Nepal.^[1] The qualification draw was held on 20 October 2010, in AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[2]

Seeding

The seedings are based on the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup. Unlike previous editions with the exception of the inaugural edition, no team has been given direct entry into the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup. Defending champions Korea DPR, runners-up Turkmenistan and third-placed Tajikistan would now have to go through the qualifiers to enter the finals. The eight lowest ranked teams would take part in the playoff round while the remaining 12 teams would enter the Group Stage.

Group Stage Entrants	Playoff Entrants (8 lowest ranked)	Non entrants (Teams eligible to enter, but didn't)
Bangladesh North Korea India Kyrgyzstan Maldives Myanmar Nepal Pakistan Palestine Sri Lanka Tajikistan Turkmenistan	Afghanistan Bhutan Cambodia Chinese Taipei Laos Macau Mongolia Philippines	Brunei (suspended at time of the draw) Guam East Timor

Qualifying play-off round

For the pre-qualifying phase, the eight lowest ranked teams played off over two legs on a home-and-away basis^[3] with the away goals rule, extra time and penalty shootouts to determine winners if necessary. The matches took place on 9 and 16 February 2011 with the four winners advancing to the group stage. However, for Afghanistan–Bhutan fixtures, they were rescheduled for 23 and 25 March and were played in at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon, India.^[4]

The second leg of the Philippines–Mongolia fixture was originally due to take place on 16 February 2011. However, in early January 2011, Philippine Football Federation president Mariano Araneta said he wanted the match to take place at the same venue as the first leg on 12 February, citing the winter conditions in Mongolia.^[5] Mongolian Football Federation president Ganbold Buyannemekh insisted that the second leg be played in Mongolia but proposed a 15 March date instead as a compromise.^[6]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bhutan	0–5	Afghanistan	0–3	0–2
Philippines	3–2	Mongolia	2–0	1–2
Chinese Taipei	6–3	Laos	5–2	1–1
Cambodia	5–4	Macau	3–1	2–3 (aet)

First leg

23 March 2011

15:00 UTC+5:30

Bhutan	0–3	Afghanistan
	Report	Walizada 2', 36', 80'

Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Gurgaon

Attendance: 200

Referee: Chaiya Mahapab (Thailand)

9 February 2011

19:00 UTC+8

Philippines	2–0	Mongolia
Caligdong 43' P. Younghusband 90+4'	Report

Panaad Stadium, Bacolod

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Yu Ming-hsun (Chinese Taipei)

10 February 2011

19:00 UTC+8

Chinese Taipei	5–2	Laos
Lin Cheng-yi 10' Chang Han 22', 56' Chen Po-Liang 44' Lo Chih-An 49'	Report	Thongkhen 65' Syvilay 73'

National Stadium, Kaohsiung

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Ng Chiu Kok (Hong Kong)

9 February 2011

15:30 UTC+7

Cambodia	3–1	Macau
El Nasa 48', 53' Laboravy 59'	Report	Leong Ka Hang 80'

National Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Win Cho (Myanmar)

Second leg

25 March 2011

15:00 UTC+5:30

Afghanistan	2–0	Bhutan
Nadeem 61' Kohistani 65'	Report

Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Gurgaon

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Hedayat Mombini (Iran)

Afghanistan win 5–0 on aggregate

15 March 2011

13:00 UTC+8

Mongolia	2–1	Philippines
Lkhümbengarav 22' Garidmagnai 35'	Report	J. Younghusband 4'

MFF Football Centre, Ulan Bator

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Ko Hyung-Jin (Korea Republic)

Philippines win 3–2 on aggregate

16 February 2011

18:00 UTC+7

Laos	1–1	Chinese Taipei
Vongchiengkham 82'	Report	Chen Po-Liang 65'

National Sports Complex, Vientiane

Attendance: 15,300

Referee: Mohd Nafeez Abdul Wahab (Malaysia)

Chinese Taipei win 6–3 on aggregate

16 February 2011

19:00 UTC+8

Macau	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Cambodia
Vernon 62' Leong Ka Hang 73' Vinício 75'	Report	Borey 45+2' El Nasa 107'

Estádio Campo Desportivo, Macau

Attendance: 100

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

Cambodia win 5–4 on aggregate

Qualifying group stage

In the group stage, the 16 teams were divided into four groups of four teams each playing a single round-robin tournament (league system).^[3] This included the 12 highest ranked automatically qualified teams and the four qualifiers from the playoff round. The original match days were 20–31 March 2011.^[2] The top two teams in each group qualified for the final tournament. On 18 February 2011, the AFC announced that the hosts for each group were: Myanmar for Group A, Malaysia for Group B, Maldives for Group C, and Nepal for Group D; with match dates on 21, 23 and 25 March 2011.^[7]

However, for Group D, the All Nepal Football Association proposed the hosting rights since the end of December 2010, which the AFC had endorsed. The fixtures were also scheduled to take place from 21 to 25 March but on 7 February 2011 it was announced that the qualifiers had to be postponed due to the unavailability of the main stadium (Dasarath Rangasala Stadium) due to a wrestling event. The fixtures were then set to 7 to 11 April 2011.^[8]^[9]

The teams were 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:^[3]

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.

Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and runners-up qualify for the final tournament

Group A

Times are Myanmar Time (MMT) – UTC+6:30

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Palestine	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7
Philippines	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	5
Bangladesh	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
Myanmar	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Source: RSSSF

21 March 2011