The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, two extra officials – one behind each goal – were used in all matches of the competition from the play-off round.
The final was held at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. Chelsea's caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo led the club to win their first Champions League title after beating Bayern Munich 4–3 on penalties in the final. As tenants of the Allianz Arena (known as Fußball Arena München for the final), Bayern were the first finalists to have home advantage since 1984. By winning the tournament, Chelsea earned a berth at the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup and 2012 UEFA Super Cup. Barcelona were the defending champions, but were eliminated by the eventual winners Chelsea in the semi-finals.
Association team allocation A total of 76 teams participated in the 2011–12 Champions League from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organises no domestic league competition). 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 Champions League: Associations 1–3 each have four teams qualify Associations 4–6 each have three teams qualify Associations 7–15 each have two teams qualify Associations 16–53 each have one team qualify (excluding Liechtenstein)
Association ranking RankAssociationCoeff.Teams 1 81.856 4 2 79.757 3 64.338 4 64.207 3 5 53.740 6 43.791 7 39.550 2 8 39.491 9 38.296 10 36.546 11 34.450 12 29.899 13 28.375 14 27.900 15 27.350 16 25.791 1 17 22.000 18 21.975RankAssociationCoeff.Teams 19 19.575 1 20 18.875 21 17.999 22 17.400 23 15.832 24 14.191 25 14.000 26 12.541 27 12.332 28 11.541 29 9.541 30 9.499 31 8.749 32 8.416 33 8.248 34 7.290 35 6.957 36 6.750RankAssociationCoeff.Teams 37 5.748 1 38 5.498 39 5.415 40 5.332 41 4.500 0 42 4.499 1 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 53 0.750
Distribution Since the winners of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, Barcelona, obtained a place in the group stage through their domestic league placing, the reserved title holder spot in the group stage was effectively vacated. To compensate: The champions of association 13 (Switzerland) were promoted from the third qualifying round to the group stage. The champions of association 16 (Scotland) were promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round. The champions of associations 48 and 49 (Faroe Islands and Northern Ireland) were promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundFirst qualifying round(4 teams)4 champions from associations 50–53Second qualifying round(34 teams)32 champions from associations 17–49 (except Liechtenstein)2 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying roundChampions Route(20 teams)3 champions from associations 14–1617 winners from the second qualifying roundLeague Route(10 teams)9 runners-up from associations 7–15 1 third-placed team from association 6Play-off roundChampions Route(10 teams)10 winners from the third qualifying round Champions RouteLeague Route(10 teams)2 third-placed teams from associations 4 and 5 3 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–35 winners from the third qualifying round League RouteGroup stage(32 teams)13 champions from associations 1–13 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 3 third-placed teams from associations 1–35 winners from the play-off round Champions Route 5 winners from the play-off round League RouteKnockout phase(16 teams)8 group winners from the group stage 8 group runners-up from the group stage
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Champions League title holders 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th: League positions of the previous season
Group stage Barcelona (1st)TH Milan (1st) Marseille (2nd) Porto (1st) Manchester United (1st) Internazionale (2nd) Zenit Saint Petersburg (1st) Ajax (1st) Chelsea (2nd) Napoli (3rd) CSKA Moscow (2nd) Trabzonspor (2nd) Manchester City (3rd) Borussia Dortmund (1st) Shakhtar Donetsk (1st) Olympiacos (1st) Real Madrid (2nd) Bayer Leverkusen (2nd) Oțelul Galați (1st) Basel (1st) Valencia (3rd) Lille (1st)Play-off roundChampions RouteLeague Route Arsenal (4th) Udinese (4th) Lyon (3rd) Villarreal (4th) Bayern Munich (3rd)Third qualifying roundChampions RouteLeague Route Genk (1st) Rubin Kazan (3rd) Twente (2nd) Zürich (2nd) Copenhagen (1st) Dynamo Kyiv (2nd) Trabzonspor (2nd) Standard Liège (2nd) Rangers (1st) Vaslui (3rd) Panathinaikos (2nd) Odense (2nd) Benfica (2nd)Second qualifying round Litex Lovech (1st) Partizan (1st) Skonto (1st) Tobol (1st) Viktoria Plzeň (1st) Wisła Kraków (1st) Dacia Chișinău (1st) Flora (1st) Sturm Graz (1st) Dinamo Zagreb (1st) Maribor (1st) Skënderbeu (1st) Maccabi Haifa (1st) BATE Borisov (1st) Videoton (1st) Pyunik (1st) APOEL (1st) Shamrock Rovers (1st) Zestaponi (1st) Bangor City (1st) Rosenborg (1st) HJK (1st) Neftçi (1st) Mogren (1st) Slovan Bratislava (1st) Borac Banja Luka (1st) Breiðablik (1st) HB (1st) Malmö FF (1st) Ekranas (1st) Shkëndija (1st) Linfield (1st)First qualifying round F91 Dudelange (1st) FC Santa Coloma (1st) Valletta (1st) Tre Fiori (1st)
Round and draw dates All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland unless stated otherwise.
Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg Qualifying First qualifying round 20 June 2011 28–29 June 2011 5–6 July 2011 Second qualifying round 12–13 July 2011 19–20 July 2011 Third qualifying round 15 July 2011 26–27 July 2011 2–3 August 2011 Play-off Play-off round 5 August 2011 16–17 August 2011 23–24 August 2011 Group stage Matchday 1 25 August 2011(Monaco) 13–14 September 2011 Matchday 2 27–28 September 2011 Matchday 3 18–19 October 2011 Matchday 4 1–2 November 2011 Matchday 5 22–23 November 2011 Matchday 6 6–7 December 2011 Knockout phase Round of 16 16 December 2011 14–15 & 21–22 February 2012 6–7 & 13–14 March 2012 Quarter-finals 16 March 2012 27–28 March 2012 3–4 April 2012 Semi-finals 17–18 April 2012 24–25 April 2012 Final 19 May 2012 at Allianz Arena, Munich
Qualifying rounds
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2011 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
First qualifying round The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on 20 June 2011. The first legs were played on 28 June, and the second legs were played on 5 and 6 July 2011.
Second qualifying round The first legs were played on 12 and 13 July, and the second legs were played on 19 and 20 July 2011.
HJK's 10–0 win over Bangor City in the second leg broke the record for the largest margin of victory in the current Champions League format.
Third qualifying round The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 15 July 2011. The first legs were played on 26 and 27 July, and the second legs were played on 2 and 3 August 2011.
The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: one for champions (called the Champions Route) and one for non-champions (called the League Route). The losing teams in both sections entered the play-off round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2011. The first legs were played on 16 and 17 August, and the second legs were played on 23 and 24 August 2011.
The play-off round was split into two separate sections: one for champions (called the Champions Route) and one for non-champions (called the League Route). The losing teams in both sections entered the group stage of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.
Group stage
The group stage features 32 teams, which were allocated into pots based on their 2011 UEFA club coefficients (except the title holders, Barcelona, who were placed in Pot 1 automatically), and then drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. The draw was held on 25 August 2011 in Monaco.
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays are 13–14 September, 27–28 September, 18–19 October, 1–2 November, 22–23 November, and 6–7 December 2011. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams entered the round of 32 of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order): higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question; If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams; superior goal difference from all group matches played; higher number of goals scored from all group matches played; higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.
Manchester City, Napoli, Oțelul Galați, Trabzonspor and Viktoria Plzeň made their debut appearances in the group stage.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Knockout phase
In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded team hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association could not be drawn against each other. In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association may be drawn with each other.
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played1 Lionel Messi Barcelona149902 Mario Gómez Bayern Munich121,0033 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid109304 Karim Benzema Real Madrid77605 Didier Drogba Chelsea66706 José Callejón Real Madrid5307 Roberto Soldado Valencia515 Bafétimbi Gomis Lyon530 Alexander Frei Basel611 Seydou Doumbia CSKA Moscow611 Roman Shirokov Zenit Saint Petersburg658 Edinson Cavani Napoli701 Zlatan Ibrahimović Milan720 Source: Squad of the season The UEFA technical observers selected the following 21 players as the squad of the tournament.
PlayerTeam Petr Čech Chelsea Manuel Neuer Bayern Munich Iker Casillas Real Madrid Sergio Ramos Real Madrid Philipp Lahm Bayern Munich Ashley Cole Chelsea Dani Alves Barcelona Gerard Piqué Barcelona Pepe Real Madrid Xabi Alonso Real Madrid Frank Lampard Chelsea Xavi Barcelona Andrés Iniesta Barcelona Ramires Chelsea Bastian Schweinsteiger Bayern Munich Lionel Messi Barcelona Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Zlatan Ibrahimović AC Milan Robin van Persie Arsenal Mesut Özil Real Madrid Didier Drogba Chelsea
See also 2011–12 UEFA Europa League 2012 FIFA Club World Cup 2012 UEFA Super Cup 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League
References
External links
2011–12 All matches – season at UEFA website 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, UEFA.com