The Asian Football Confederation's Pre-Olympic Tournament. Eighteen teams entered the qualification for the two allocated spots for the 2012 Summer Olympics Football tournament in London, however, Qatar withdrew before playing any match. The competition was originally scheduled for February 2010 but it eventually started in March 2011.
The format is as follows:
First roundThe highest-ranked 5 teams in
the previous tournament (
Australia,
China PR,
Japan,
North Korea and
South Korea) received byes to the final round. Other 12 teams were divided into 3 groups by their geographical positions, where each group consisted of a one-round league (round-robin) tournament at a centralized venue. Five teams (the winners and the runners-up of Group A and C, respectively, and the winners of Group B) advanced to the second round.
Second round5 teams that advanced from the first round played a one-round league (round-robin) tournament at a centralized venue. The winner advanced to the final round.
Final round6 teams (5 teams with the byes and 1 team from the second round) played a one-round league (round-robin) tournament at a centralized venue. The winners and runners-up qualified for the
Football tournament in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
All matches were held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei).
All matches were held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Play off Match
Since both India and Uzbekistan were tied on points and goal difference, a play-off match was played to decide the winner of group:All matches were held in Zarqa, Jordan.
All matches were held in Amman, Jordan.
NotesNote 1: The Iranian government refused to allow its female players to remove the hijab when playing, in violation of FIFA policy; Jordan, Vietnam, Thailand and Uzbekistan were awarded the respective matches 3–0.
All matches were held in Jinan, Shandong, China.
