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.
A total of 194 teams from 53 UEFA associations are participating in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Associations are allocated places according to their 2010 UEFA league coefficient, 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 (one team)
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
The title holder would have been given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League or Europa League through domestic performance; however, this additional entry will not be necessary as Porto, winners of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, qualified for the Champions League through domestic performance.
(FP): Additional fair play berth (Norway, England, Sweden)
(UCL): Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
Distribution[]
The winners of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, Porto, would have been guaranteed a place in the group stage; however, as they qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, this title holder spot reserved for them 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) are moved from the third qualifying round to the play-off round.
The domestic cup winners of associations 28 and 29 (Belarus and Republic of Ireland) are 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) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
Teams transferred from Champions League
First 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 rankings
Second 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 7–9
25 winners from the first qualifying round
Third 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 round
Play-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 1–3
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-: End-of-season European competition play-offs (winners or position)
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[]
Main article: 2011–12 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were be 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 30 June, and the second legs were played on 7 July 2011.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 15 July 2011. The first legs were played on 26 and 28 July, and the second legs were played on 4 August 2011.
Greek club Olympiakos Volou, who had reached the play-off round, were excluded from the competition by UEFA on 11 August 2011 for their involvement in the Koriopolis match-fixing scandal. UEFA decided to replace them in the play-off round with Differdange 03 from Luxembourg, who had lost to Olympiakos Volou in the previous round.
As a result of match-fixing allegations, Turkish club Fenerbahçe were removed from the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League and were replaced with Trabzonspor on 24 August 2011. As a result, Trabzonspor's second leg against Athletic Bilbao was cancelled, and Athletic Bilbao qualified for the group stage.
Celtic lodged protests over the eligibility of a number of the Sion players who participated in the two legs of the play-off round, which Sion won 3–1 aggregate (first leg: 0–0; second leg: 3–1). The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body accepted the protests and decided to award both matches to Celtic by forfeit (3–0). As a consequence, Celtic qualified for the UEFA Europa League group stage.
The group stage features 48 teams, which were allocated into pots based on their 2011 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into twelve groups of four. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. The draw was held on 26 August 2011 in Monaco.
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays are 15 September, 29 September, 20 October, 3 November, 30 November–1 December, and 14–15 December 2011. The group winners and runners-up will advance to the round of 32, where they will be joined by the 8 third-placed teams from the group stage of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions 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.
A total of 24 national associations are represented in this group stage (including Scotland after Celtic were reinstated into the Europa League over Sion), with England having the most teams, with four.
Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32
In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The draw for the round of 32 and round of 16 will be held on 16 December 2011. The draws for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team) will be held on 16 March 2012.
In the draw for the round of 32, the twelve group winners and the four better third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage (based on their match record in the group stage) are seeded, and the twelve group runners-up and the other four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage are unseeded. A seeded team will be drawn against an unseeded team, with the seeded team hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other. In the draws for the round of 16 onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association may be drawn with each other.
Atlético Madrid (2nd title)
Radamel Falcao
KR
Tromsø
Fola Esch
Cliftonville
Nõmme Kalju
St Patrick's Athletic
Shakhter Karagandy
Qarabağ
Paks
Tre Penne
Flamurtari Vlorë
Ulisses
Minsk
Milsami Orhei
Lokomotiv Sofia
Bnei Yehuda
Gaz Metan Mediaș
Gaziantepspor
ADO Den Haag
Vorskla Poltava
AEK Larnaca
Jablonec
Red Bull Salzburg
Olympiakos Volou
Midtjylland
Dundee United
Nacional
Westerlo
Thun
Rennes
7', 34'
Matías Suárez
Joseph Akpala
Dalibor Volaš
Cleiton Xavier