The 2012 Algarve Cup was the nineteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal.

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 third and fourth-placed teams in Group C played for the eleventh place.

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.