Egftnjytyk

2011–12 UEFA Europa League

Arena Națională in Bucharest hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates	15 September 2011 – 9 May 2012 (competition proper) 30 June – 25 August 2011 (qualifying)
Teams	48+8 (competition proper) 161+33 (total) (from 53 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Atlético Madrid (2nd title)
Runners-up	Athletic Bilbao
Tournament statistics
Matches played	205
Goals scored	585 (2.85 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Radamel Falcao (12 goals)
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

Atlético Madrid won the title, defeating Athletic Bilbao 3–0 in an all-Spanish final. Porto were the defending champions, but they were beaten by Manchester City in the Round of 32.

Association team allocation

A total of 194 teams from 53 UEFA associations participated in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. 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.^[4]

Below is the qualification scheme for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League:^[5]

• 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, which have one team qualify (as Liechtenstein only have a domestic cup and no domestic league)


• 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


• Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the Europa League

Association ranking

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1 England 81.856 3 +1(FP) +2(UCL) 2 Spain 79.757 +1(UCL) 3 Italy 64.338 +1(UCL) 4 Germany 64.207 5 France 53.740 6 Russia 43.791 +1(UCL) 7 Ukraine 39.550 4 +1(UCL) 8 Romania 39.491 +1(UCL) 9 Portugal 38.296 +1(UCL) 10 Netherlands 36.546 3 +2(UCL) 11 Turkey 34.450 +2(UCL) 12 Greece 29.899 +2(UCL) 13 Switzerland 28.375 +1(UCL) 14 Belgium 27.900 +1(UCL) 15 Denmark 27.350 +2(UCL) 16 Scotland 25.791 +1(UCL) 17 Bulgaria 22.000 +1(UCL) 18 Czech Republic 21.975 +1(UCL)

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 19 Austria 19.575 3 +1(UCL) 20 Israel 18.875 +1(UCL) 21 Cyprus 17.999 22 Norway 17.400 +1(FP) +1(UCL) 23 Slovakia 15.832 +1(UCL) 24 Sweden 14.191 +1(FP) +1(UCL) 25 Serbia 14.000 +1(UCL) 26 Poland 12.541 +1(UCL) 27 Croatia 12.332 28 Belarus 11.541 29 Republic of Ireland 9.541 +1(UCL) 30 Finland 9.499 +1(UCL) 31 Bosnia and Herzegovina 8.749 32 Lithuania 8.416 +1(UCL) 33 Latvia 8.248 34 Moldova 7.290 35 Slovenia 6.957 +1(UCL) 36 Hungary 6.750

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 37 Georgia 5.748 3 +1(UCL) 38 Azerbaijan 5.498 39 Iceland 5.415 40 Macedonia 5.332 41 Liechtenstein 4.500 1 42 Kazakhstan 4.499 3 43 Estonia 4.374 44 Albania 3.999 45 Armenia 2.999 46 Wales 2.581 47 Montenegro 2.125 48 Faroe Islands 1.832 49 Northern Ireland 1.624 50 Luxembourg 1.249 51 Andorra 1.000 52 Malta 0.916 2 53 San Marino 0.750

Notes

• (FP): Additional fair play berth (Norway, England, Sweden)^[6]
  


• (UCL): Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League

Distribution

Since the winners of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, Porto, qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League through domestic performance, the title holder spot reserved for them in the group stage 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:^[7]

• The domestic cup winners of associations 16 and 17 (Scotland and Bulgaria) were promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round.


• The domestic cup winners of associations 28 and 29 (Belarus and Republic of Ireland) were 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) were 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	35 winners from the third qualifying round	15 losers from the Champions League third qualifying round
Group stage (48 teams)		38 winners from the play-off round	10 losers from the Champions League play-off round
Knockout phase (32 teams)		12 group winners from the group stage 12 group runners-up from the group stage	8 third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage

Redistribution rules

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:^[5]

• 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:^[8][9]

• TH: Title holders


• CW: Cup winners


• CR: Cup runners-up


• LC: League Cup winners


• Nth: League position


• P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners


• FP: Fair play


• UCL: Relegated from the Champions League
  
  
  
  • GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
  
  
  • PO: Losers from the play-off round
  
  
  • Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round
  
  
  
  

Round of 32
Manchester City (UCL GS)	Trabzonspor (UCL GS)Note TUR	Manchester United (UCL GS)	Ajax (UCL GS)
Valencia (UCL GS)	Olympiacos (UCL GS)	PortoTH(UCL GS)	Viktoria Plzeň (UCL GS)
Group stage
Zürich (UCL PO)	Odense (UCL PO)	Maccabi Haifa (UCL PO)	Wisła Kraków (UCL PO)
Malmö FF (UCL PO)	Rubin Kazan (UCL PO)	Copenhagen (UCL PO)	Twente (UCL PO)
Udinese (UCL PO)	Sturm Graz (UCL PO)
Play-off round
Tottenham Hotspur (5th)	Lokomotiv Moscow (5th)	Anderlecht (3rd)	Standard Liège (UCL Q3)
Birmingham City (LC)	Metalist Kharkiv (3rd)	Nordsjælland (CW)	Slovan Bratislava (UCL Q3)
Sevilla (5th)	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (4th)	Celtic (CW)	Zestafoni (UCL Q3)
Athletic Bilbao (6th)	Steaua București (CW)	CSKA Sofia (CW)	Litex Lovech (UCL Q3)
Lazio (5th)	Rapid București (4th)Note ROU	Ekranas (UCL Q3)	Trabzonspor (UCL Q3)Note TUR
Roma (6th)	Sporting CP (3rd)	Shamrock Rovers (UCL Q3)	Partizan (UCL Q3)
Schalke 04 (CW)	Braga (4th)	Panathinaikos (UCL Q3)	Maribor (UCL Q3)
Hannover 96 (4th)	PSV Eindhoven (3rd)	Dynamo Kyiv (UCL Q3)	HJK Helsinki (UCL Q3)
Paris Saint-Germain (4th)	Beşiktaş (CW)	Rangers (UCL Q3)
Sochaux (5th)	AEK Athens (CW)	Vaslui (UCL Q3)
Spartak Moscow (4th)	Sion (CW)	Rosenborg (UCL Q3)
Third qualifying round
Stoke City (CR)	Vitória Guimarães (5th)	Levski Sofia (2nd)	Helsingborg (CW)
Atlético Madrid (7th)	AZ (4th)	Mladá Boleslav (CW)	Red Star Belgrade (2nd)
Palermo (CR)	Bursaspor (3rd)	Sparta Prague (2nd)	Legia Warsaw (CW)
Mainz 05 (5th)	PAOK (3rd)	Ried (CW)	Hajduk Split (2nd)
Rennes (6th)	Young Boys (3rd)	Hapoel Tel Aviv (CW)	Gomel (CW)
Alania Vladikavkaz (CR)	Club Brugge (4th)	Omonia (CW)	Sligo Rovers (CW)
Karpaty Lviv (5th)	Brøndby (3rd)	Strømsgodset (CW)
Dinamo București (6th)Note ROU	Heart of Midlothian (3rd)	Senica (2nd)
Second qualifying round
Vorskla Poltava (6th)	Maccabi Tel Aviv (3rd)	Željezničar (CW)	Vaduz (CW)
Gaz Metan Mediaș (7th)Note ROU	Bnei Yehuda (4th)	Sarajevo (2nd)	Aktobe (2nd)Note KAZ
Nacional (6th)	Anorthosis (3rd)	Sūduva Marijampolė (2nd)	Levadia Tallinn (2nd)
ADO Den Haag (P-W)	AEK Larnaca (4th)	Tauras Tauragė (4th)Note LTU	Tirana (CW)
Gaziantepspor (4th)	Vålerenga (2nd)	Ventspils (CW)	Mika (CW)
Olympiakos Volou (5th)	Žilina (3rd)	Liepājas Metalurgs (3rd)	Llanelli (CW)
Thun (5th)	Örebro (3rd)	Iskra-Stal (CW)	Rudar Pljevlja (CW)
Westerlo (CR)	Vojvodina (3rd)	Sheriff Tiraspol (2nd)	EB/Streymur (CW)
Midtjylland (4th)	Śląsk Wrocław (2nd)	Domžale (CW)	Crusaders (2nd)
Dundee United (4th)	RNK Split (3rd)	Kecskemét (CW)	Differdange 03 (CW)
Lokomotiv Sofia (4th)	Shakhtyor Soligorsk (2nd)	Gagra (CW)	Sant Julià (CW)
Jablonec (3rd)	Bohemians (2nd)	Khazar Lankaran (CW)	Floriana (CW)
Red Bull Salzburg (2nd)	TPS (CW)	FH (CW)	Juvenes/Dogana (CW)
Austria Wien (3rd)	KuPS (2nd)	Metalurg Skopje (CW)
First qualifying round
Tromsø (3rd)	Koper (3rd)	Shakhter Karagandy (CR)Note KAZ	Glentoran (3rd)
Spartak Trnava (4th)	Olimpija Ljubljana (4th)	Narva Trans (3rd)	Cliftonville (4th)
Elfsborg (4th)	Paks (2nd)	Nõmme Kalju (4th)	Fola Esch (2nd)
Rad (4th)	Ferencváros (3rd)	Flamurtari Vlorë (2nd)	Käerjéng 97 (3rd)
Jagiellonia Białystok (4th)	Dinamo Tbilisi (2nd)	Vllaznia Shkodër (3rd)	Lusitanos (3rd)
Varaždin (CR)	Metalurgi Rustavi (3rd)	Banants (2nd)	UE Santa Coloma (4th)
Minsk (3rd)	Qarabağ (3rd)	Ulisses (3rd)	Birkirkara (3rd)
St Patrick's Athletic (5th)Note IRL	AZAL Baku (4th)	The New Saints (2nd)	Tre Penne (2nd)
Honka (4th)	ÍBV (3rd)	Neath (P-W)	Aalesund (FP)[10]
Široki Brijeg (4th)	KR (4th)	Budućnost Podgorica (2nd)	Fulham (FP)[11]
Banga Gargždai (CR)	Renova (3rd)	Zeta (4th)	Häcken (FP)[12]
Daugava Daugavpils (4th)	Rabotnički (4th)	NSÍ Runavík (3rd)
Milsami Orhei (3rd)	Irtysh Pavlodar (3rd)	ÍF Fuglafjørður (4th)

Notes

• TH – Title holders: Porto qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League group stage as the champions of the 2010–11 Primeira Liga. They finished third in their group and thus advanced to the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League knockout phase.


• 
  Republic of Ireland (IRL): Because Sporting Fingal, the fourth-placed team of the 2010 League of Ireland Premier Division, returned its domestic license prior to the start of the 2011 season, St Patricks Athletic, the fifth-placed team of the league, claimed the Europa League spot in the first qualifying round. ^[13]
  


• 
  Kazakhstan (KAZ): Because Lokomotiv Astana, the winners of the 2010 Kazakhstan Cup, did not exist for at least three years and could not obtain a UEFA license, the second-placed team of the league, Aktobe, moved up to enter the second qualifying round, and the cup runners-up, Shakhter Karagandy, claimed the vacant Europa League spot in the first qualifying round.^[14]
  


• 
  Lithuania (LTU): Because Žalgiris Vilnius, the third-placed team of the 2010 A Lyga, did not obtain a UEFA license for the 2011–12 European competitions, Tauras Tauragė, the fourth-placed team of the league, claimed the Europa League spot in the second qualifying round.^[15]
  


• 
  Romania (ROU): Because Politehnica Timișoara, the 2010–11 Liga I runners-up, were denied a domestic licence for the 2011–12 season, Vaslui, the third-placed team of the league, claimed the Champions League spot in the third qualifying round for non-champions, instead of entering the Europa League play-off round. Subsequently, Rapid București and Dinamo București, the fourth- and sixth-placed teams of the league, moved up to enter the play-off round and the third qualifying round respectively, and Gaz Metan Mediaș, the seventh-placed team of the league, claimed the vacant Europa League spot in the second qualifying round.^[16]
  


• 
  Turkey (TUR): Fenerbahçe, the 2010–11 Süper Lig champions, was banned by the Turkish Football Federation on 24 August 2011 from participating in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League due to the ongoing investigation into match-fixing.^[17][18] UEFA decided to replace them in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League with Trabzonspor, the league runners-up, who had lost in the Champions League third qualifying round and were participating in the Europa League play-off round at that time.^[19] They finished third in their group and thus advanced to the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League knockout phase.

Round and draw dates

All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland unless stated otherwise.^[7]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First qualifying round	20 June 2011	30 June 2011	7 July 2011
	Second qualifying round		14 July 2011	21 July 2011
	Third qualifying round	15 July 2011	28 July 2011	4 August 2011
Play-off	Play-off round	5 August 2011	18 August 2011	25 August 2011
Group stage	Matchday 1	26 August 2011 (Monaco)	15 September 2011
	Matchday 2		29 September 2011
	Matchday 3		20 October 2011
	Matchday 4		3 November 2011
	Matchday 5		30 November–1 December 2011
	Matchday 6		14–15 December 2011
Knockout phase	Round of 32	16 December 2011	16 February 2012	23 February 2012
	Round of 16		8 March 2012	15 March 2012
	Quarter-finals	16 March 2012	29 March 2012	5 April 2012
	Semi-finals		19 April 2012	26 April 2012
	Final		9 May 2012 at Arena Națională, Bucharest

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

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2011 UEFA club coefficients,^[20][21] 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.^[22] The first legs were played on 30 June, and the second legs were played on 7 July 2011.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
ÍF Fuglafjørður	2–81	KR	1–3	1–5
Daugava Daugavpils	1–7	Tromsø	0–5	1–2
Elfsborg	5–1	Fola Esch	4–0	1–1
The New Saints	2–1	Cliftonville	1–1	1–0
Honka	2–0	Nõmme Kalju	0–0	2–0
Fulham	3–0	NSÍ Runavík	3–0	0–0
ÍBV	1–2	St Patrick's Athletic	1–0	0–2
Käerjéng 97	2–61	Häcken	1–1	1–5
Aalesund	6–1	Neath	4–1	2–0
Renova	3–3 (2–3 p)	Glentoran	2–1	1–2 (aet)
Koper	2–3	Shakhter Karagandy	1–1	1–2
Banga Gargždai	0–7	Qarabağ	0–4	0–3
UE Santa Coloma	0–51	Paks	0–1	0–4
Narva Trans	1–71	Rabotnički	1–4	0–3
Rad	9–1	Tre Penne	6–0	3–1
Budućnost Podgorica	3–4	Flamurtari Vlorë	1–3	2–1
Ferencváros	5–01	Ulisses	3–0	2–0
Jagiellonia Białystok	1–2	Irtysh Pavlodar	1–0	0–2
AZAL Baku	2–31	Minsk	1–1	1–2
Dinamo Tbilisi	5–1	Milsami Orhei	2–0	3–1
Varaždin	6–1	Lusitanos	5–1	1–0
Banants	1–2	Metalurgi Rustavi	0–1	1–1
Birkirkara	1–2	Vllaznia Shkodër	0–1	1–1
Široki Brijeg	0–3	Olimpija Ljubljana	0–0	0–3
Spartak Trnava	4–2	Zeta	3–0	1–2

Notes

• 
  Note 1: Order of legs reversed after original draw.

Second qualifying round

The first legs were played on 14 July, and the second legs were played on 21 July 2011.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Metalurgi Rustavi	3–1	Irtysh Pavlodar	1–1	2–0
Sūduva Marijampolė	1–4	Elfsborg	1–1	0–3
Metalurg Skopje	2–3	Lokomotiv Sofia	0–0	2–3
Sant Julià	0–4	Bnei Yehuda	0–2	0–2
Željezničar	1–0	Sheriff Tiraspol	1–0	0–0
KuPS	1–2	Gaz Metan Mediaș	1–0	0–2
Minsk	2–5	Gaziantepspor	1–1	1–4
Iskra-Stal	2–4	Varaždin	1–1	1–3
Tauras Tauragė	2–5	ADO Den Haag	2–3	0–2
Glentoran	0–5	Vorskla Poltava	0–2	0–3
Juvenes/Dogana	0–4	Rabotnički	0–1	0–3
Örebro	0–2	Sarajevo	0–0	0–2
Crusaders	1–7	Fulham	1–3	0–4
Llanelli	2–6	Dinamo Tbilisi	2–1	0–5
Floriana	0–9	AEK Larnaca	0–8	0–1
Shakhtyor Soligorsk	2–4	Ventspils	0–1	2–3
Flamurtari Vlorë	1–7	Jablonec	0–2	1–5
KR	3–2	Žilina	3–0	0–2
Vålerenga	2–02	Mika	1–0	1–0
Olimpija Ljubljana	3–1	Bohemians	2–0	1–1
Domžale	2–5	RNK Split	1–2	1–3
Differdange 03	1–0	Levadia Tallinn	0–0	1–0
Tirana	1–3	Spartak Trnava	0–0	1–3
Ferencváros	3–4	Aalesund	2–1	1–3 (aet)
Liepājas Metalurgs	1–4	Red Bull Salzburg	1–4	0–0
Rad	1–2	Olympiakos Volou	0–1	1–1
The New Saints	3–8	Midtjylland	1–3	2–5
Kecskemét	1–1 (a)	Aktobe	1–1	0–0
Häcken	3–0	Honka	1–0	2–0
Anorthosis	3–22	Gagra	3–0	0–2
Vaduz	3–3 (a)	Vojvodina	0–2	3–1
Rudar Pljevlja	0–5	Austria Wien	0–3	0–2
Śląsk Wrocław	3–3 (a)	Dundee United	1–0	2–3
Shakhter Karagandy	2–3	St Patrick's Athletic	2–1	0–2
EB/Streymur	1–1 (a)	Qarabağ	1–1	0–0
FH	1–3	Nacional	1–1	0–2
Paks	4–1	Tromsø	1–1	3–0
TPS	0–1	Westerlo	0–1	0–0
Maccabi Tel Aviv	3–12	Khazar Lankaran	3–1	0–0
Vllaznia Shkodër	1–2	Thun	0–0	1–2

Notes

• 
  Note 2: Order of legs reversed after original draw.

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 15 July 2011.^[23] The first legs were played on 26 and 28 July, and the second legs were played on 4 August 2011.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Atlético Madrid	4–1	Strømsgodset	2–1	2–0
Young Boys	5–1	Westerlo	3–1	2–0
Ventspils	1–9	Red Star Belgrade	1–2	0–7
Alania Vladikavkaz	2–2 (4–2 p)	Aktobe	1–1	1–1 (aet)
AEK Larnaca	5–2	Mladá Boleslav	3–0	2–2
Željezničar	0–8	Maccabi Tel Aviv	0–2	0–6
AZ	3–1	Jablonec	2–0	1–1
Olimpija Ljubljana	3–4	Austria Wien	1–1	2–3
Bursaspor	5–2	Gomel	2–1	3–1
Aalesund	5–1	Elfsborg	4–0	1–1
Gaziantepspor	0–1	Legia Warsaw	0–1	0–0
Hapoel Tel Aviv	5–2	Vaduz	4–0	1–2
Metalurgist Rustavi	2–7	Rennes	2–5	0–2
Levski Sofia	3–3 (4–5 p)	Spartak Trnava	2–1	1–2 (aet)
Midtjylland	1–2	Vitória Guimarães	0–0	1–2
Dinamo București	4–3	Varaždin	2–2	2–1
Karpaty Lviv	5–1	St Patrick's Athletic	2–0	3–1
Palermo	3–3 (a)3	Thun	2–2	1–1
KR	1–6	Dinamo Tbilisi	1–4	0–2
Omonia	3–1	ADO Den Haag	3–0	0–1
Red Bull Salzburg	4–0	Senica	1–0	3–0
Club Brugge	4–2	Qarabağ	4–1	0–1
Differdange 03	0–6	Olympiakos Volou	0–3	0–3
Mainz 05	2–2 (3–4 p)	Gaz Metan Mediaș	1–1	1–1 (aet)
Bnei Yehuda	1–3	Helsingborg	1–0	0–3
Stoke City	2–0	Hajduk Split	1–0	1–0
Anorthosis	2–3	Rabotnički	0–2	2–1
Sparta Prague	7–03	Sarajevo	5–0	2–0
Vorskla Poltava	2–0	Sligo Rovers	0–0	2–0
Paks	2–5	Heart of Midlothian	1–1	1–4
Śląsk Wrocław	0–0 (4–3 p)3	Lokomotiv Sofia	0–0	0–0 (aet)
Nacional	4–2	Häcken	3–0	1–2
Ried	4–4 (a)	Brøndby	2–0	2–4
Vålerenga	0–53	PAOK	0–2	0–3
RNK Split	0–2	Fulham	0–0	0–2

Notes

• 
  Note 3: Order of legs reversed after original draw.

Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2011.^[24] The first legs were played on 18 August, and the second legs were played on 25 August 2011.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Maccabi Tel Aviv	4–2	Panathinaikos	3–0	1–2
Atlético Madrid	6–0	Vitória de Guimarães	2–0	4–0
Shamrock Rovers	3–2	Partizan	1–1	2–1 (aet)
Metalist Kharkiv	4–0	Sochaux	0–0	4–0
Beşiktaş	3–2	Alania Vladikavkaz	3–0	0–2
Rosenborg	1–2	AEK Larnaca	0–0	1–2
Vorskla Poltava	5–3	Dinamo București	2–1	3–2
Bursaspor	3–4	Anderlecht	1–2	2–2
Slovan Bratislava	2–14	Roma	1–0	1–1
Differdange 035	0–6	Paris Saint-Germain	0–4	0–2
Legia Warsaw	5–4	Spartak Moscow	2–2	3–2
Ekranas	1–4	Hapoel Tel Aviv	1–0	0–4
PAOK	3–1	Karpaty Lviv	2–0	1–1
Athletic Bilbao	w/o4, 6	Trabzonspor	0–0	Cancelled6
Heart of Midlothian	0–5	Tottenham Hotspur	0–5	0–0
Maribor	3–2	Rangers	2–1	1–1
Steaua București	3–1	CSKA Sofia	2–0	1–1
Nordsjælland	1–2	Sporting CP	0–0	1–2
Fulham	3–14	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	3–0	0–1
Lokomotiv Moscow	3–1	Spartak Trnava	2–0	1–1
Celtic	6–04, 7	Sion	3–07	3–07
Śląsk Wrocław	2–4	Rapid București	1–3	1–1
Litex Lovech	1–3	Dynamo Kyiv	1–2	0–1
Lazio	9–1	Rabotnički	6–0	3–1
Nacional	0–3	Birmingham City	0–0	0–3
Ried	0–5	PSV Eindhoven	0–0	0–5
Thun	1–5	Stoke City	0–1	1–4
Aalesund	2–7	AZ	2–1	0–6
Vaslui	2–1	Sparta Prague	2–0	0–1
Omonia	2–2 (a)	Red Bull Salzburg	2–1	0–1
Zestafoni	3–5	Club Brugge	3–3	0–2
Hannover 96	3–2	Sevilla	2–1	1–1
HJK Helsinki	3–6	Schalke 04	2–0	1–6
AEK Athens	2–14	Dinamo Tbilisi	1–0	1–1 (aet)
Red Star Belgrade	1–6	Rennes	1–2	0–4
Austria Wien	3–24	Gaz Metan Mediaș	3–1	0–1
Braga	2–2 (a)	Young Boys	0–0	2–2
Standard Liège	4–1	Helsingborg	1–0	3–1

Notes

• 
  Note 4: Order of legs reversed after original draw.


• 
  Note 5: 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.^[25] 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.^[26]
  


• 
  Note 6: 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.^[19]
  


• 
  Note 7: 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.^[27]
  

Group stage

The group stage features 48 teams, which were allocated into pots based on their 2011 UEFA club coefficients,^[20][21] 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.^[28]

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 advanced to the round of 32, where they were 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):^[5]

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;


2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;


3. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;


4. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;


5. 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;


6. superior goal difference from all group matches played;


7. higher number of goals scored from all group matches played;


8. 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.^[29]

Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts PAOK 6 3 3 0 10 6 +4 12 Rubin Kazan 6 3 2 1 11 5 +6 11 Tottenham Hotspur 6 3 1 2 9 4 +5 10 Shamrock Rovers 6 0 0 6 4 19 −15 0

PAOK RK SR TH PAOK – 1–1 2–1 0–0 Rubin Kazan 2–2 – 4–1 1–0 Shamrock Rovers 1–3 0–3 – 0–4 Tottenham Hotspur 1–2 1–0 3–1 –

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Standard Liège 6 4 2 0 9 1 +8 14 Hannover 96 6 3 2 1 9 7 +2 11 Copenhagen 6 1 2 3 5 9 −4 5 Vorskla Poltava 6 0 2 4 4 10 −6 2

COP HAN SL VP Copenhagen – 1–2 0–1 1–0 Hannover 96 2–2 – 0–0 3–1 Standard Liège 3–0 2–0 – 0–0 Vorskla Poltava 1–1 1–2 1–3 –

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts PSV Eindhoven 6 5 1 0 13 5 +8 16 Legia Warsaw 6 3 0 3 7 9 −2 9 Hapoel Tel Aviv 6 2 1 3 10 9 +1 7 Rapid București 6 1 0 5 5 12 −7 3

HTA LW PSV RB Hapoel Tel Aviv – 2–0 0–1 0–1 Legia Warsaw 3–2 – 0–3 3–1 PSV Eindhoven 3–3 1–0 – 2–1 Rapid București 1–3 0–1 1–3 –

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Sporting CP 6 4 0 2 8 4 +4 12 Lazio 6 2 3 1 7 5 +2 9 Vaslui 6 1 3 2 5 8 −3 6 Zürich 6 1 2 3 5 8 −3 5

LAZ SCP VAS ZÜR Lazio – 2–0 2–2 1–0 Sporting CP 2–1 – 2–0 2–0 Vaslui 0–0 1–0 – 2–2 Zürich 1–1 0–2 2–0 –

Group E

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Beşiktaş 6 4 0 2 13 7 +6 12 Stoke City 6 3 2 1 10 7 +3 11 Dynamo Kyiv 6 1 4 1 7 7 0 7 Maccabi Tel Aviv 6 0 2 4 8 17 −9 2

BEŞ DK MTA SC Beşiktaş – 1–0 5–1 3–1 Dynamo Kyiv 1–0 – 3–3 1–1 Maccabi Tel Aviv 2–3 1–1 – 1–2 Stoke City 2–1 1–1 3–0 –

Group F

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Athletic Bilbao 6 4 1 1 11 8 +3 13 Red Bull Salzburg 6 3 1 2 11 8 +3 10 Paris Saint-Germain 6 3 1 2 8 7 +1 10 Slovan Bratislava 6 0 1 5 4 11 −7 1

AB PSG RBS SB Athletic Bilbao – 2–0 2–2 2–1 Paris Saint-Germain 4–2 – 3–1 1–0 Red Bull Salzburg 0–1 2–0 – 3–0 Slovan Bratislava 1–2 0–0 2–3 –

Group G

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Metalist Kharkiv 6 4 2 0 15 6 +9 14 AZ 6 1 5 0 10 7 +3 8 Austria Wien 6 2 2 2 10 11 −1 8 Malmö FF 6 0 1 5 4 15 −11 1

AW AZ MFF MK Austria Wien – 2–2 2–0 1–2 AZ 2–2 – 4–1 1–1 Malmö FF 1–2 0–0 – 1–4 Metalist Kharkiv 4–1 1–1 3–1 –

Group H

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Club Brugge 6 3 2 1 12 9 +3 11 Braga 6 3 2 1 12 6 +6 11 Birmingham City 6 3 1 2 8 8 0 10 Maribor 6 0 1 5 6 15 −9 1

BC BRA CB MAR Birmingham City – 1–3 2–2 1–0 Braga 1–0 – 1–2 5–1 Club Brugge 1–2 1–1 – 2–0 Maribor 1–2 1–1 3–4 –

Group I

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Atlético Madrid 6 4 1 1 11 4 +7 13 Udinese 6 2 3 1 6 7 −1 9 Celtic 6 1 3 2 6 7 −1 6 Rennes 6 0 3 3 5 10 −5 3

AM CEL REN UDI Atlético Madrid – 2–0 3–1 4–0 Celtic 0–1 – 3–1 1–1 Rennes 1–1 1–1 – 0–0 Udinese 2–0 1–1 2–1 –

Group J

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Schalke 04 6 4 2 0 13 2 +11 14 Steaua București 6 2 2 2 9 11 −2 8 Maccabi Haifa 6 2 0 4 10 12 −2 6 AEK Larnaca 6 1 2 3 4 11 −7 5

AEK MH SCH SB AEK Larnaca – 2–1 0–5 1–1 Maccabi Haifa 1–0 – 0–3 5–0 Schalke 04 0–0 3–1 – 2–1 Steaua București 3–1 4–2 0–0 –

Group K

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Twente 6 4 1 1 14 7 +7 13 Wisła Kraków 6 3 0 3 8 13 −5 9 Fulham 6 2 2 2 9 6 +3 8 Odense 6 1 1 4 9 14 −5 4

FUL OB TWE WK Fulham – 2–2 1–1 4–1 Odense 0–2 – 1–4 1–2 Twente 1–0 3–2 – 4–1 Wisła Kraków 1–0 1–3 2–1 –

Group L

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Anderlecht 6 6 0 0 18 5 +13 18 Lokomotiv Moscow 6 4 0 2 14 11 +3 12 AEK Athens 6 1 0 5 8 15 −7 3 Sturm Graz 6 1 0 5 5 14 −9 3

AEK AND LM SG AEK Athens – 1–2 1–3 1–2 Anderlecht 4–1 – 5–3 3–0 Lokomotiv Moscow 3–1 0–2 – 3–1 Sturm Graz 1–3 0–2 1–2 –

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. The draw for the round of 32 and round of 16 was held on 16 December 2011.^[30] The draws for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team) were held on 16 March 2012.^[31] Both draws were assisted by Romanian footballer Miodrag Belodedici, the ambassador for the 2012 final.

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 is 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.

Bracket

Round of 32						Round of 16						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
Lazio	1	0	1
Atlético Madrid	3	1	4			Atlético Madrid	3	3	6
Braga	0	1	1			Beşiktaş	1	0	1
Beşiktaş	2	0	2									Atlético Madrid	2	2	4
Wisła Kraków	1	0	1									Hannover 96	1	1	2
Standard Liège (a)	1	0	1			Standard Liège	2	0	2
Hannover 96	2	1	3			Hannover 96	2	4	6
Club Brugge	1	0	1															Atlético Madrid	4	1	5
AZ	1	1	2															Valencia	2	0	2
Anderlecht	0	0	0			AZ	2	1	3
Udinese	0	3	3			Udinese	0	2	2
PAOK	0	0	0									AZ	2	0	2
Stoke City	0	0	0									Valencia	1	4	5
Valencia	1	1	2			Valencia	4	1	5
Trabzonspor	1	1	2			PSV Eindhoven	2	1	3
PSV Eindhoven	2	4	6																					Atlético Madrid	3
Legia Warsaw	2	0	2																					Athletic Bilbao	0
Sporting CP	2	1	3			Sporting CP (a)	1	2	3
Porto	1	0	1			Manchester City	0	3	3
Manchester City	2	4	6									Sporting CP	2	1	3
Red Bull Salzburg	0	1	1									Metalist Kharkiv	1	1	2
Metalist Kharkiv	4	4	8			Metalist Kharkiv (a)	0	2	2
Rubin Kazan	0	0	0			Olympiacos	1	1	2
Olympiacos	1	1	2															Sporting CP	2	1	3
Steaua București	0	0	0															Athletic Bilbao	1	3	4
Twente	1	1	2			Twente	1	1	2
Viktoria Plzeň	1	1	2			Schalke 04	0	4	4
Schalke 04 (aet)	1	3	4									Schalke 04	2	2	4
Ajax	0	2	2									Athletic Bilbao	4	2	6
Manchester United	2	1	3			Manchester United	2	1	3
Lokomotiv Moscow	2	0	2			Athletic Bilbao	3	2	5
Athletic Bilbao (a)	1	1	2

Round of 32

The first legs were played on 14 and 16 February, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 February 2012.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Porto	1–6	Manchester City	1–2	0–4
Ajax	2–3	Manchester United	0–2	2–1
Lokomotiv Moscow	2–2 (a)	Athletic Bilbao	2–1	0–1
Red Bull Salzburg	1–8	Metalist Kharkiv	0–4	1–4
Stoke City	0–2	Valencia	0–1	0–1
Rubin Kazan	0–2	Olympiacos	0–1	0–1
AZ	2–0	Anderlecht	1–0	1–0
Lazio	1–4	Atlético Madrid	1–3	0–1
Steaua București	0–2	Twente	0–1	0–1
Viktoria Plzeň	2–4	Schalke 04	1–1	1–3 (aet)
Wisła Kraków	1–1 (a)	Standard Liège	1–1	0–0
Braga	1–2	Beşiktaş	0–2	1–0
Udinese	3–0	PAOK	0–0	3–0
Trabzonspor	2–6	PSV Eindhoven	1–2	1–4
Hannover 96	3–1	Club Brugge	2–1	1–0
Legia Warsaw	2–3	Sporting CP	2–2	0–1

Round of 16

The first legs were played on 8 March, and the second legs were played on 15 March 2012.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Metalist Kharkiv	2–2 (a)	Olympiacos	0–1	2–1
Sporting CP	3–3 (a)	Manchester City	1–0	2–3
Twente	2–4	Schalke 04	1–0	1–4
Standard Liège	2–6	Hannover 96	2–2	0–4
Valencia	5–3	PSV Eindhoven	4–2	1–1
AZ	3–2	Udinese	2–0	1–2
Atlético Madrid	6–1	Beşiktaş	3–1	3–0
Manchester United	3–5	Athletic Bilbao	2–3	1–2

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 29 March, and the second legs on 5 April 2012.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
AZ	2–5	Valencia	2–1	0–4
Schalke 04	4–6	Athletic Bilbao	2–4	2–2
Sporting CP	3–2	Metalist Kharkiv	2–1	1–1
Atlético Madrid	4–2	Hannover 96	2–1	2–1

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 19 April, and the second legs were played on 26 April 2012.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Atlético Madrid	5–2	Valencia	4–2	1–0
Sporting CP	3–4	Athletic Bilbao	2–1	1–3

Final

The 2012 UEFA Europa League Final was played on 9 May 2012 at the Arena Națională in Bucharest, Romania.

Statistics

Excluding qualifying rounds and play-off round.

See also

• 2011–12 UEFA Champions League


• 2012 UEFA Super Cup

References

External links

• 
  UEFA Europa League (official website)