2011 in association football
The following are the association football events of the year 2011 throughout the world. News. North American professional expansion. In 2011, the major leagues of the men's and women's sport in the United States and Canada each added at least one new team: 2011–12 Russian Premier League. The 2011–12 season is a transitional season of the Russian Premier League, as it will stretch over 18 months instead of the conventional 12 months. The unusual length of the season is the result of the decision to adapt the playing year to an autumn-spring rhythm  similar to most of the other UEFA leagues. The season will comprise two phases. The first phase will consist of a regular home-and-away schedule, meaning that each team will play the other teams twice for a total of 30 matches per team. The league will then be split into two groups for the second phase, where each team plays another home-and-away schedule against every other team of its respective group. The top eight teams of the first phase will compete for the championship and the spots for both the 2012–13 Champions League and Europa League. Accordingly , the bottom eight teams will have to avoid relegation. The bottom two teams of this group will be directly relegated, while the 13th- and 14-placed teams will compete in a relegation/promotion playoff with the third- and fourth-placed teams of the 2011–12 National League Championship. 61st FIFA Congress. The 61st FIFA Congress was held in Zurich, Switzerland between 31 May and 1 June. At the congress, Sepp Blatter was re-elected as the President of FIFA. Continental champions. Several international continental tournaments were held to determine berths into the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup. Most notably, FC Barcelona  of Spain's La Liga won the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United of the English Premier League 3–1. The UEFA Champions League is considered by some to be the most preeminent club competition in the World, even more so than the Club World Cup, primarily due to the financial strength of European teams in contrast to clubs in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Elsewhere, the 2011 CONCACAF Champions League Finals was historic in the essence that it was the first final in the modern North American champions league-era not to feature an all-Mexican final . Nevertheless, Monterrey of Mexico's Premiera Division won the 2011 title 3–2 on aggregate over Real Salt Lake of the United States' Major League Soccer. Salt Lake became the first American club to reach a Champions League final, as well as the first American side to reach a top-tier North American club championship since Los Angeles Galaxy in 2000. New Zealander teams continued their dominance in the OFC Champions League as Auckland City won their second OFC Champions League honor against Amicale of Vanuatu's Premia Divisen. Al-Sadd of Qatar's Starts League won the 2011 AFC Champions  League Final against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of the Korean K-League 2–2 (4–2 in penalties). Al-Sadd qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time after winning its second title in Asia. On 6 November, the 2011 CAF Champions League Final will be contested between Wydad Casablanca of Morocco's Botola and Espérance Tunis of Tunisia's CLP-1. The second leg will be contested on 12 November.