The 2012 Norwegian Football Cup was the 107th season of the Norwegian annual knockout football tournament. It began with qualification matches in April 2012. The first round was played on 1 May 2012 and the tournament ended with the final on 25 November 2012.[1]Aalesund was the defending champions, having beaten Brann 2–1 in last season's final,[2] but was eliminated by Sandefjord in the fourth round.
This round saw the top-flight teams Sandnes Ulf and Sogndal eliminated. This was the first time since 1993, when Jevnaker eliminated Lyn, that a team from the top division is eliminated in the first round. 11,273 spectators saw Vålerenga win 2-1 against Lyn, which is a new all-time high attendance for the first round. The old record was 5,625, from 1945.[5] This was also the first time since 1967 that the two teams from Oslo met in the Norwegian Cup.[6]
The second round took place on the week commencing 7 May 2012. The 64 winners from the first round competed in this stage of the competition. The setup for this round was announced on 3 May 2012.[7]
The draw for the semi-finals took place on 20 August,[9] with the second-tier side Hødd being drawn at home against Brann, while Molde met Tromsø at Alfheim Stadion. The matches took place on the week commencing 24 September 2012.[3]