2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League


The 2011−12 UEFA Women's Champions League was the eleventh edition of the European women's championship for football clubs. The final was held in the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany on 17 May 2012.
As in the past two Champions League seasons, the eight highest ranked nations got two entries to the tournament. The point of entry was changed this season however. In the previous years the national runners-up had to enter the qualification round. With those teams always easing through their groups, with the exception of Umeå in 2010–11, UEFA decided to give those a direct entry to the round of 32. As a result, eight nations which under previous rules would have had direct entry to that round now had to go through the qualifying stage.

Team allocation and distribution

A total of 54 teams from 46 UEFA associations were confirmed to be entering this year's competition by UEFA on 15 June 2011. This is a new record for the Women's Champions league, as Albania and Latvia are represented for the first time, and the winners of the Luxembourg league entered for the first time since 2001–02. In total 11 teams got their European debut. Countries are allocated places according to their 2010 UEFA league coefficient for women, taking into account performances in women's club competitions between 2005–06 and 2009–10.
Associations ranked 1–8 entered two clubs, the remaining associations entered one team. Unlike the men's Champions League, not every association have entered teams in the past, so the exact number of clubs in each round was only known shortly before the draw.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundCompetition format
Qualifying round

  • 32 domestic league winners from associations ranked 15–53
8 groups of 4 clubs, hosted by one club, seeded into four pots by UEFA club coefficient
Round of 32

  • 14 domestic league winners from associations 1–14
  • 8 domestic league runners-up from associations 1–8
  • 8 group winners from qualifying round
  • 2 best group runners-up from qualifying round
    		• Two-legged knockout, seeded by UEFA club coefficient

    Teams

    Seeding and draw

    The draw was held on 23 June 2011. 32 teams entered in the qualifying round, and were divided into eight groups of four teams, with one team from each seeding pot:
    Pot 1
    Pot 2
    Pot 3
    Pot 4
    The eight hosts were confirmed by UEFA before the draw, and two hosts could not be placed in the same group. Krka, Osijek and Apollon Limassol also hosted tournaments in 2009 and 2010.
    Each team plays the other teams in the group once. The matches are to be played between 11 and 16 August 2011.

    Tie-breaker criteria

    As usual in UEFA competitions, three points are awarded for a win, and one point for a draw. If teams are equal on points after all matches have been played, the following criteria applies:
    1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question.
    2. Superior goal difference resulting from the matches among the teams in question.
    3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question.
    4. Superior goal difference in all group matches
    5. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches
    6. Higher number of club coefficient points
    7. Drawing of lots
    Criteria 1–3 are reapplied until the tie cannot be resolved; only then is criteria 4 used.

    Group 1

    Group 2

    Group 3

    Group 4

    Group 5

    Group 6

    Group 7

    Group 8

    Ranking of group runners-up

    The two best runners-up also qualify for the round of 32. The match against the fourth-placed team in the group does not count for the purposes of the runners-up table. The tie-breakers in this ranking are:
    1. Higher number of points obtained
    2. Superior goal difference
    3. Higher number of goals scored
    4. Higher number of club coefficient points
    5. Fair play conduct in all group matches
    Debutants Peamount and 2004–05 quarter-finalists Bobruichanka qualified for the round of 32 as best runners-up.

    Knockout-stage

    Bracket

    As there were two draws, one for Round of 32 and 16 and another draw for the Quarter-finals to the final, the bracket has been created in retrospect.

    Round of 32

    Of the 32 teams that will participate in this round, 22 are directly qualified, and the last 10 qualify from the qualification groups above. Eight as group winners, and two as the best runners-up. When determining the best runners-up, matches against the fourth placed team in the group is not taken into account. 16 seeded teams will be drawn against 16 unseeded teams. The title holder is the number 1 seed all other are seeded by their UEFA coefficient. The following teams are qualified for the round of 32.
    The round of 32 and round of 16 were drawn on 23 August 2011 at UEFA headquarters. In the round of 32 no teams from the same country could be drawn against each other, same with teams from the same qualifying group. A change made to last year, when Breiðablik UBK and FCF Juvisy met in qualifying and the round of 32. There are no restrictions to the round of 16. Seeded teams play their second leg at home.

    First leg

    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----

    Second leg

    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----

    Round of 16

    ;Notes
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----

    Second leg

    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----

    Quarter-finals

    The draw for the quarterfinals was held on 17 November 2011. Matches were played on 14–15 March 2012 and 21–22 March 2012.

    First leg

    ----
    ----
    ----

    Second leg

    ----
    ----
    ----

    Semi-finals

    First leg

    ----

    Second leg

    ----

    Final

    Top goalscorers

    RankNameTeamGoalsMinutes played
    1 Eugénie Le Sommer Lyon9609'
    1 Camille Abily Lyon9659'
    3 Anja Mittag Turbine Potsdam7360'
    3 Yuki Nagasato Turbine Potsdam7532'
    5 Lise Munk Brøndby6448'
    6 Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir LdB Malmö5532'
    6 Lotta Schelin Lyon5587'
    8 Natalia Rayo Vallecano4313'
    8 Manon Melis LdB Malmö4328'
    8 Jordan Nobbs Arsenal4377'
    8 Sofia Jakobsson Rossiyanka4444'
    8 Cristiane Rossiyanka4519'
    8 Jane Törnqvist Göteborg4540'
    8 Kerstin Garefrekes Frankfurt4810'

    Source:

    Round and draw dates

    UEFA has scheduled the competition as follows.