The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League was the third season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 41st edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with the first legs of the first qualifying round, and ended on 9 May 2012 with the final held at Arena Națională in Bucharest, Romania. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, two extra officials – one on each goal line – were used in all matches of the competition from the group stage.
Atlético Madrid won the title, defeating Athletic Bilbao 3–0 in an all-Spanish final (two goals from Falcao and one from Diego). Porto were the defending champions; they were beaten by Manchester City in the Round of 32 (6-1 on aggregate).
Association team allocation A total of 194 teams from 53 UEFA associations participated in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Associations are allocated places according to their 2010 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2005–06 to 2009–10.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League: Associations 1–6 each have three teams qualify Associations 7–9 each have four teams qualify Associations 10–51 each have three teams qualify, except Liechtenstein, which have one team qualify (as Liechtenstein only have a domestic cup and no domestic league) Associations 52–53 each have two teams qualify The top three associations of the 2010–11 UEFA Fair Play ranking each gain an additional berth Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the Europa League
Association ranking RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes 1 81.856 3 +1(FP)+2(UCL) 2 79.757 +1(UCL) 3 64.338 +1(UCL) 4 64.207 5 53.740 6 43.791 +1(UCL) 7 39.550 4 +1(UCL) 8 39.491 +1(UCL) 9 38.296 +1(UCL) 10 36.546 3 +2(UCL) 11 34.450 +2(UCL) 12 29.899 +2(UCL) 13 28.375 +1(UCL) 14 27.900 +1(UCL) 15 27.350 +2(UCL) 16 25.791 +1(UCL) 17 22.000 +1(UCL) 18 21.975 +1(UCL)RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes 19 19.575 3 +1(UCL) 20 18.875 +1(UCL) 21 17.999 22 17.400 +1(FP)+1(UCL) 23 15.832 +1(UCL) 24 14.191 +1(FP)+1(UCL) 25 14.000 +1(UCL) 26 12.541 +1(UCL) 27 12.332 28 11.541 29 9.541 +1(UCL) 30 9.499 +1(UCL) 31 8.749 32 8.416 +1(UCL) 33 8.248 34 7.290 35 6.957 +1(UCL) 36 6.750RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes 37 5.748 3 +1(UCL) 38 5.498 39 5.415 40 5.332 41 4.500 1 42 4.499 3 43 4.374 44 3.999 45 2.999 46 2.581 47 2.125 48 1.832 49 1.624 50 1.249 51 1.000 52 0.916 2 53 0.750
Notes (FP): Additional fair play berth (Norway, England, Sweden) (UCL): Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
Distribution Since the winners of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, Porto, qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League through domestic performance, the title holder spot reserved for them in the group stage was vacated. As a result, the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage: The domestic cup winners of associations 16 and 17 (Scotland and Bulgaria) were promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round. The domestic cup winners of associations 28 and 29 (Belarus and Republic of Ireland) were promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round. The domestic cup winners of associations 52 and 53 (Malta and San Marino) and the domestic league runners-up of associations 33 and 34 (Latvia and Moldova) were promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeagueFirst qualifying round(50 teams)18 domestic league runners-up from associations 35–53 (except Liechtenstein) 29 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 22–51 (except Liechtenstein) 3 teams which qualified via Fair Play rankingsSecond qualifying round(80 teams)24 domestic cup winners from associations 30–53 16 domestic league runners-up from associations 19–34 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–21 6 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 10–15 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 7–925 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying round(70 teams)12 domestic cup winners from associations 18–29 3 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–18 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 10–15 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–9 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 4–6 (League Cup winners for France) 3 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–3 (League Cup winners for England)40 winners from the second qualifying roundPlay-off round(76 teams)17 domestic cup winners from associations 1–17 3 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–9 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 4–6 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–335 winners from the third qualifying round15 losers from the Champions League third qualifying roundGroup stage(48 teams)38 winners from the play-off round10 losers from the Champions League play-off roundKnockout phase(32 teams)12 group winners from the group stage 12 group runners-up from the group stage8 third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage
Redistribution rules A Europa League place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules: When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifiers within the national association) also qualify for the Champions League, their Europa League place is vacated, and the remaining Europa League qualifiers are moved up one place, with the final place (with the earliest starting round) taken by the domestic cup runners-up, provided they do not already qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League. Otherwise, this place is taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the Europa League. When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position is vacated, and the Europa League qualifiers that finish lower in the league are moved up one place, with the final place taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the Europa League. A place vacated by the League Cup winners is taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the Europa League. A Fair Play place is taken by the highest-ranked team in the domestic Fair Play table that has not yet qualified for the Champions League or the Europa League.
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Title holders CW: Cup winners CR: Cup runners-up LC: League Cup winners Nth: League position P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners FP: Fair play UCL: Relegated from the Champions League GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage PO: Losers from the play-off round Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round
Round of 32 Manchester City (UCL GS) Trabzonspor (UCL GS) Manchester United (UCL GS) Ajax (UCL GS) Valencia (UCL GS) Olympiacos (UCL GS) Porto (UCL GS)TH Viktoria Plzeň (UCL GS)Group stage Zürich (UCL PO) Odense (UCL PO) Maccabi Haifa (UCL PO) Wisła Kraków (UCL PO) Malmö FF (UCL PO) Rubin Kazan (UCL PO) Copenhagen (UCL PO) Twente (UCL PO) Udinese (UCL PO) Sturm Graz (UCL PO)Play-off round Tottenham Hotspur (5th) Lokomotiv Moscow (5th) Anderlecht (3rd) Standard Liège (UCL Q3) Birmingham City (LC) Metalist Kharkiv (3rd) Nordsjælland (CW) Slovan Bratislava (UCL Q3) Sevilla (5th) Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (4th) Celtic (CW) Zestaponi (UCL Q3) Athletic Bilbao (6th) Steaua București (CW) CSKA Sofia (CW) Litex Lovech (UCL Q3) Lazio (5th) Rapid București (4th) Ekranas (UCL Q3) Trabzonspor (UCL Q3) Roma (6th) Sporting CP (3rd) Shamrock Rovers (UCL Q3) Partizan (UCL Q3) Schalke 04 (CW) Braga (4th) Panathinaikos (UCL Q3) Maribor (UCL Q3) Hannover 96 (4th) PSV Eindhoven (3rd) Dynamo Kyiv (UCL Q3) HJK (UCL Q3) Paris Saint-Germain (4th) Beşiktaş (CW) Rangers (UCL Q3) Sochaux (5th) AEK Athens (CW) Vaslui (UCL Q3) Spartak Moscow (4th) Sion (CW) Rosenborg (UCL Q3)Third qualifying round Stoke City (CR) Vitória de Guimarães (5th) Levski Sofia (2nd) Helsingborgs IF (CW) Atlético Madrid (7th) AZ (4th) Mladá Boleslav (CW) Red Star Belgrade (2nd) Palermo (CR) Bursaspor (3rd) Sparta Prague (2nd) Legia Warsaw (CW) Mainz 05 (5th) PAOK (3rd) Ried (CW) Hajduk Split (2nd) Rennes (6th) Young Boys (3rd) Hapoel Tel Aviv (CW) Gomel (CW) Alania Vladikavkaz (CR) Club Brugge (4th) Omonia (CW) Sligo Rovers (CW) Karpaty Lviv (5th) Brøndby (3rd) Strømsgodset (CW) Dinamo București (6th) Heart of Midlothian (3rd) Senica (2nd)Second qualifying round Vorskla Poltava (6th) Maccabi Tel Aviv (3rd) Željezničar (CW) Vaduz (CW) Gaz Metan Mediaș (7th) Bnei Yehuda (4th) Sarajevo (2nd) Aktobe (2nd) Nacional (6th) Anorthosis Famagusta (3rd) Sūduva (2nd) Levadia Tallinn (2nd) ADO Den Haag (P-W) AEK Larnaca (4th) Tauras Tauragė (4th) Tirana (CW) Gaziantepspor (4th) Vålerenga (2nd) Ventspils (CW) Mika (CW) Olympiacos Volos (5th) Žilina (3rd) Liepājas Metalurgs (3rd) Llanelli (CW) Thun (5th) Örebro SK (3rd) Iskra-Stal (CW) Rudar Pljevlja (CW) Westerlo (CR) Vojvodina (3rd) Sheriff Tiraspol (2nd) EB/Streymur (CW) Midtjylland (4th) Śląsk Wrocław (2nd) Domžale (CW) Crusaders (2nd) Dundee United (4th) RNK Split (3rd) Kecskemét (CW) Differdange 03 (CW) Lokomotiv Sofia (4th) Shakhtyor Soligorsk (2nd) Gagra (CW) Sant Julià (CW) Jablonec (3rd) Bohemians (2nd) Khazar Lankaran (CW) Floriana (CW) Red Bull Salzburg (2nd) TPS (CW) FH (CW) Juvenes/Dogana (CW) Austria Wien (3rd) KuPS (2nd) Metalurg Skopje (CW)First qualifying round Tromsø (3rd) Koper (3rd) Shakhter Karagandy (CR) Glentoran (3rd) Spartak Trnava (4th) Olimpija Ljubljana (4th) Narva Trans (3rd) Cliftonville (4th) IF Elfsborg (4th) Paks (2nd) Nõmme Kalju (4th) Fola Esch (2nd) Rad (4th) Ferencváros (3rd) Flamurtari (2nd) Käerjéng 97 (3rd) Jagiellonia Białystok (4th) Dinamo Tbilisi (2nd) Vllaznia (3rd) Lusitanos (3rd) Varaždin (CR) Metalurgi Rustavi (3rd) Banants (2nd) UE Santa Coloma (4th) Minsk (3rd) Qarabağ (3rd) Ulisses (3rd) Birkirkara (3rd) St Patrick's Athletic (5th) AZAL Baku (4th) The New Saints (2nd) Tre Penne (2nd) Honka (4th) ÍBV (3rd) Neath (P-W) Aalesund (FP) Široki Brijeg (4th) KR (4th) Budućnost Podgorica (2nd) Fulham (FP) Banga (CR) Renova (3rd) Zeta (4th) BK Häcken (FP) Daugava Daugavpils (4th) Rabotnicki (4th) NSÍ (3rd) Milsami Orhei (3rd) Irtysh (3rd) ÍF (4th)
Round and draw dates All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland unless stated otherwise.
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingFirst qualifying round20 June 201130 June 20117 July 2011Second qualifying round14 July 201121 July 2011Third qualifying round15 July 201128 July 20114 August 2011Play-offPlay-off round5 August 201118 August 201125 August 2011Group stageMatchday 126 August 2011(Monaco)15 September 2011Matchday 229 September 2011Matchday 320 October 2011Matchday 43 November 2011Matchday 530 November – 1 December 2011Matchday 614–15 December 2011Knockout phaseRound of 3216 December 201116 February 201223 February 2012Round of 168 March 201215 March 2012Quarter-finals16 March 201229 March 20125 April 2012Semi-finals19 April 201226 April 2012Final9 May 2012 at Arena Națională, Bucharest
Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.
Qualifying rounds