# 2011–12 FC Porto season

The 2011–12 season is the Futebol Clube do Porto's 78th season in the Primeira Liga, officially known as the Liga ZON Sagres for sponsorship reasons. Porto captured their 25th league title last season with their 3 April defeat of rivals Benfica. Manager André Villas-Boas became their manager on 2 July 2010 and won the league with no losses in their domestic campaign. On 20 June 2011, Villas-Boas quit Porto to join Chelsea. The next day, Porto named Vítor Pereira as their new head coach.

## Squad
### Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | BRA | Helton |
| 2 | DF | BRA | Danilo |
| 3 | MF | ARG | Lucho González |
| 4 | DF | BRA | Maicon |
| 5 | DF | URU | Álvaro Pereira |
| 6 | MF | COL | Fredy Guarín |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Fernando Belluschi |
| 8 | MF | POR | João Moutinho |
| 10 | MF | URU | Cristian Rodríguez |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Kléber |
| 12 | FW | BRA | Hulk |
| 13 | DF | URU | Jorge Fucile |
| 14 | DF | POR | Rolando |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | DF | POR | Emídio Rafael |
| 16 | DF | POR | Henrique Sereno |
| 17 | FW | POR | Silvestre Varela |
| 18 | FW | BRA | Walter |
| 19 | FW | COL | James Rodríguez |
| 20 | MF | ANG | Djalma |
| 21 | DF | ROU | Cristian Săpunaru |
| 22 | DF | FRA | Eliaquim Mangala |
| 23 | MF | BRA | Souza |
| 25 | MF | BRA | Fernando |
| 26 | DF | BRA | Alex Sandro |
| 29 | FW | AUT | Marc Janko |
| 30 | DF | ARG | Nicolás Otamendi |
| 31 | GK | BRA | Rafael Bracalli |
| 35 | MF | BEL | Steven Defour |
| 58 | FW | FRA | Thibaut Vion |

### Squad changes in 2011–12

In
* Djalma — Marítimo — Free transfer
* Juan Iturbe — Cerro Porteño — €2.5 million
* Kelvin — Paraná Clube — €2.5 million
* Rafael Bracalli — Nacional — Free transfer
* Kléber — Maritimo — €2.3 million
* Alex Sandro — Santos — €9.6 million
* Danilo — Santos — €13 million
* Steven Defour — Standard Liège — €6 million
* Eliaquim Mangala — Standard Liège — €7 million
* Thibaut Vion — Metz — €300,000
* Lucho González — Marseille — Free transfer
* Marc Janko — Twente — €3 million
Out
* Mariano González — Estudiantes de La Plata — End of contract
* Coulibaly Yero — Gil Vicente — Undisclosed fee (Porto still holds a percentage of his rights)
* Radamel Falcao — Atlético Madrid — €40 million
* Rúben Micael — Atlético Madrid — €5 million

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | POR | Hugo Ventura (to Olhanense) |
| — | DF | SEN | Abdoulaye Ba (to Académica) |
| — | DF | POR | André Pinto (to Olhanense) |
| — | DF | POR | Ivo Pinto (to União de Leiria) |
| — | MF | POR | Pedro Moreira (to Gil Vicente) |
| — | MF | POR | Edú (to Trofense) |
| — | MF | POR | Sérgio Oliveira (to Mechelen) |
| — | DF | POR | Henrique Sereno (to 1. FC Köln) |
| — | MF | BRA | Soares (to Recreativo de Huelva) |
| — | DF | POR | Miguel Lopes (to Braga) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | POR | Ukra (to Braga) |
| — | MF | BRA | Kelvin (to Rio Ave) |
| — | MF | POR | André Castro (to Sporting Gijón) |
| — | MF | GHA | Christian Atsu (to Rio Ave) |
| — | MF | POR | David Bruno (to Trofense) |
| — | GK | POL | Paweł Kieszek (to Roda JC) |
| — | DF | GHA | David Addy (to Panetolikos) |
| — | MF | COL | Fredy Guarín (to Internazionale) |
| — | MF | ARG | Fernando Belluschi (to Genoa) |

## Competitions
### Pre-season and friendlies

| Date | Match Type | Opponents | H / A | Result | Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 6 July | Friendly | Tourizense | CTFD PortoGaia | 7–0 | Hulk (2), Maicon, Kelvin, James Rodríguez, Kléber, Danilo (o.g.) | – |
| 10 July | Friendly | FC Gütersloh | Heidewaldstadion | 1–10 | Kléber, Djalma, Hulk (3), Rúben Micael, Walter (3), Maicon | – |
| 16 July | Friendly | Borussia Mönchengladbach | Niederrheinstadion | 0–0 | – | – |
| 17 July | Friendly | SC Verl | Stadion an der Poststraße | 1–3 | Kléber (2), Hulk | – |
| 21 July | Friendly | Rio Ave | Estádio dos Arcos | 1–3 | Kléber (2), João Moutinho | – |
| 24 July | Friendly | Peñarol | Estádio do Dragão | 3–0 | Kléber, Hulk, Walter | – |
| 31 July | Friendly | Lyon | Stade de Genève | 2–1 | Rúben Micael | – |

### Primeira Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Porto (C) | 30 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 69 | 19 | +50 | 75 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Benfica | 30 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 66 | 27 | +39 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Braga | 30 | 19 | 5 | 6 | 59 | 29 | +30 | 62 | Qualification to Champions League play-off round |
| 4 | Sporting CP | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 47 | 26 | +21 | 59 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 5 | Marítimo | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 41 | 38 | +3 | 50 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss

### UEFA Champions League
#### Group stage
##### Tiebreakers

* APOEL and Zenit St. Petersburg are ranked by their head-to-head records, as shown below.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| APOEL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 |
| Zenit Saint Petersburg | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 1 |