The ninth edition of the ASEAN soccer championship took place from November 24th to December 22nd, 2012. Since 2008 the official name of the event has been AFF Suzuki Cup . The group matches took place in Malaysia and Thailand , with the semi-finals and the finals being played in home and return matches. All Southeast Asian national soccer teams were eligible to participate . Smaller nations like Myanmar or Laos first had to gain the right to start for the final round through a qualifying round. The draw for the final and qualifying rounds took place in Bangkok on July 11th .
In addition to the two hosts, the following nations were directly qualified for the tournament in Malaysia and Thailand: Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.
The teams from Laos , Cambodia , East Timor , Brunei and Myanmar first had to compete against each other in a qualification. This was played in a championship system for the two places still to be allocated.
The game was played in two groups of four teams each. The group winners and runners-up then met in the semifinals. The winners of the semi-finals then determined the winner of the ASEAN championship 2012. The semi-finals and the final were played in home and away matches.