UEFA Champions League 2011-12

The 2011-12 UEFA Champions League is the 57th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the twentieth edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. Barcelona are the defending champions. The final will be played on 19 May 2012, at the AlLianz, home ground of Bayern Munich, in Munich, Germany. This year's final will be the third to be played on a Saturday night. The winner of the tournament qualifies to play in the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup as well as the 2012 UEFA Super Cup.
==Qualifying Rules==
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 (except Liechtenstein)
===Distribution===
;First qualifying round (4 teams)
*4 champions from associations 50-53
;Second qualifying round (34 teams)
*2 winners from the first qualifying round
*32 champions from associations 17-49 (except Liechtenstein) 
;Third qualifying round for champions (20 teams)
*17 winners from the second qualifying round
*3 champions from associations 14-16
;Third qualifying round for non-champions (10 teams)
*9 runners-up from associations 7-15
*1 third-placed team from association 6
;Play-off round for champions (10 teams)
*10 winners from the third qualifying round for champions
;Play-off round for non-champions (10 teams)
*5 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions
*2 third-placed teams from associations 4 and 5
*3 fourth-placed teams from associations 1-3
;Group stage (32 teams)
*5 winners from the play-off round for champions
*5 winners from the play-off round for non-champions
*13 champions from associations 1-13
*6 runners-up from associations 1-6
*3 third-placed teams from associations 1-3
===Teams===
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses.(Trabzonspor replaced Fenerbahçe due to match fixing allegations.)
Group stage 	Group stage 	Group stage 	Group stage
BarcelonaTH (1st) 	Milan (1st) 	Marseille (2nd) 	Porto (1st)
Manchester United (1st)	Internazionale (2nd) 	Zenit St. Petersburg (1st)	Ajax (1st)
Chelsea (2nd) 	Napoli (3rd) 	CSKA Moscow (2nd) 	Trabzonspor (2nd)Note TUR
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 round 	Play-off round 	Play-off round 	Play-off round
Champions Route 	League Route 	League Route 	League Route
 	Arsenal (4th) 	Udinese (4th) 	Lyon (3rd)
 	Villarreal (4th) 	Bayern Munich (3rd) 	
Third qualifying round 	Third qualifying round 	Third qualifying round 	Third qualifying round
Champions Route 	League Route 	League Route 	League Route
Genk (1st) 	Rubin Kazan (3rd) 	Twente (2nd) 	Zürich (2nd)
Copenhagen (1st) 	Dynamo Kyiv (2nd) 	Trabzonspor (2nd)Note TUR 	Standard Liège (2nd)
Rangers (1st) 	Vaslui (3rd)Note ROU 	Panathinaikos (P-1st) 	Odense (2nd)
 	Benfica (2nd) 	 	
Second qualifying round	Second qualifying round	Second qualifying round 	Second qualifying round
Litex Lovech (1st) 	Partizan (1st) 	Skonto (1st) 	Tobol Kostanay (1st)
Viktoria Plzeň (1st) 	Wisła Kraków (1st) 	Dacia Chişinău (1st) 	Flora Tallinn (1st)
Sturm Graz (1st) 	Dinamo Zagreb (1st) 	Maribor (1st) 	Skënderbeu Korçë (1st)
Maccabi Haifa (1st) 	BATE Borisov (1st) 	Videoton (1st) 	Pyunik (1st)
APOEL (1st) 	Shamrock Rovers (1st) 	Zestafoni (1st) 	Bangor City (1st)
Rosenborg (1st) 	HJK Helsinki (1st) 	Neftchi Baku (1st) 	Mogren (1st)
Slovan Bratislava (1st)	Borac Banja Luka (1st) 	Breiðablik (1st) 	HB Tórshavn (1st)
Malmö FF (1st) 	Ekranas (1st) 	Škendija (1st) 	Linfield (1st)
First qualifying round 	First qualifying round 	First qualifying round 	First qualifying round
F91 Dudelange (1st) 	FC Santa Coloma (1st) 	Valletta (1st) 	Tre Fiori (1st)
==Round and draw dates==
Phase 	Round 	Draw date 	First leg 	Second leg
Qualifying 	First qualifying round 	20 June 2011 	28-29 June 2011 	5-6 July 2011
Qualifying 	Second qualifying round	20 June 2011 	12-13 July 2011 	19-20 July 2011
Qualifying 	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 	13-14 September 2011 	13-14 September 2011
Group stage 	Matchday 2 	25 August 2011 	27-38 September 2011 	27-38 September 2011
Group stage 	Matchday 3 	25 August 2011 	18-19 October 2011 	18-19 October 2011
Group stage 	Matchday 4 	25 August 2011 	1-2 November 2011 	1-2 November 2011
Group stage 	Matchday 5 	25 August 2011 	22-23 November 2011 	22-23 November 2011
Group stage 	Matchday 6 	25 August 2011 	6-7 December 2011 	6-7 December 2011
Knockout stage	First knockout round 	16 December 2011	14-15 & 21-22 February 2012 	6-7 & 13-14 March 2012
Knockout stage	Quarter-finals 	16 March 2012 	27-28 March 2012 	3-4 April 2012
Knockout stage	Semi-finals 	16 March 2012 	17-18 April 2012 	24-25 April 2012
Knockout stage	Final 	16 March 2012 	19 May 2012 at Fußball Arena München, Munich	19 May 2012 at Fußball Arena München, Munich
==Qualifying phase==
===First qualifying round===
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===Second qualifying round===
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===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.
|-
!colspan="6"|Champions Route
|-
!colspan="6"|League Route
|}
==Play-off round==
|-
!colspan="6"|Champions Path
|-
!colspan="6"|Non-Champions Path
|}
==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.
The 32 teams contain eleven former winners of the European Cup/Champions League (40 titles combined), and five teams (Manchester City, Napoli, Trabzonspor, Viktoria Plzeň and Oțelul Galați) which made their début appearance in the group stage. Eighteen UEFA member associations are represented in this group stage: England and Spain by four clubs, Italy, Germany and France by three, Russia and Portugal by two, while eleven associations are represented by one club, which are all domestic champions except Trabzonspor, which replaced Fenerbahçe due to match-fixing allegations.
Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16
Third-placed teams enter the UEFA Europa League at the round of 32
=== Group A ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Bayern Munich 	6	4	1	1	11	6 	+5 	13
Napoli 	6	3	2	1	10	6 	+4 	11
Manchester City	6	3	1	2	9 	6 	+3 	10
Villarreal 	6	0	0	6	2 	14	−12	0
===Group B===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Internazionale	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1 	10
CSKA Moscow 	6	2	2	2	9	8	+1 	8
Trabzonspor 	6	1	4	1	3	5	−2	7
Lille 	6	1	3	2	6	6	0 	6
===Group C===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Benfica 	6	3	3	0	8 	4 	+4 	12
Basel 	6	3	2	1	11	10	+1 	11
Manchester United	6	2	3	1	11	8 	+3 	9
Oțelul Galați 	6	0	0	6	3 	11	−8	0
===Group D===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Real Madrid 	6	6	0	0	19	2 	+17 	18
Lyon 	6	2	2	2	9 	7 	+2 	8
Ajax 	6	2	2	2	6 	6 	0 	8
Dinamo Zagreb	6	0	0	6	3 	22	−19	0
===Group E===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Chelsea 	6	3	2	1	13	4 	+9 	11
Bayer Leverkusen	6	3	1	2	8 	8 	0 	10
Valencia 	6	2	2	2	12	7 	+5 	8
Genk 	6	0	3	3	2 	16	−14	3
===Group F===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Arsenal 	6	3	2	1	7	6 	+1 	11
Marseille 	6	3	1	2	7	4 	+3 	10
Olympiacos 	6	3	0	3	8	6 	+2 	9
Borussia Dortmund	6	1	1	4	6	12	−6	4
===Group G===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
APOEL 	6	2	3	1	6	6	0 	9
Zenit St. Petersburg	6	2	3	1	7	5	+2 	9
Porto 	6	2	2	2	7	7	0 	8
Shakhtar Donetsk 	6	1	2	3	6	8	−2	5
===Group H===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Barcelona 	6	5	1	0	20	4 	+16 	16
Milan 	6	2	3	1	11	8 	+3 	9
Viktoria Plzeň	6	1	2	3	4 	11	−7 	5
BATE Borisov 	6	0	2	4	2 	14	−12	2
==Knockout stage==
===Round of 16===
The draw for the first knockout round was held on 16 December 2012 at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland by UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino and UEFA Director of Competitions Giorgio Marchetti. The eight group winners, which play the second leg at home, were drawn against the eight group runners-up, with the restriction that teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn with each other. Starting with this season, the first knockout round matches will be held over four weeks, instead of the previous two weeks. The first legs will be played on 14, 15, 21 and 22 February, while the second legs will be played on 6, 7, 13 and 14 March 2012.
|}
===Quarter-finals===
The first legs were played on 27 and 28 March, and the second legs were played on 3 and 4 April 2012.
|}
===Semi-finals===
The first legs were played on 17 and 18 April, and the second legs were played on 24 and 25 April 2012.
|}
===Final===
==Statistics==
===Top goalscorers===
The top scorers from the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying rounds and play-off round) are as follows:
Rank	Name 	Team 	Goals	Minutes played
1 	Lionel Messi 	Barcelona 	14 	990'
2 	Mario Gomez 	Bayern Munich	12 	1003'
3 	Cristiano Ronaldo 	Real Madrid 	10 	930'
4 	Karim Benzema 	Real Madrid 	7 	760'
5 	Didier Drogba 	Chelsea F.C. 	6 	670'
6 	Jose Maria Callejon	Real Madrid 	5 	307'
6 	Roberto Soldado 	Valencia CF 	5 	515'
6 	Zlatan Ibrahimović 	Barcelona 	5 	720'
*Source: Top Scorers - Quarter-Final 2nd leg - Wednesday 7 April 2010 (after matches) (accessed 7 April 2010)
==See also==
*2011-12 UEFA Europa League
*UEFA Champions League
==External links==
2011-12
Category:UEFA Champions League seasons