The 2011-12 UEFA Europa League was the 3rd season of the competition replacing the UEFA Cup. Over the course of the season, nearly 200 teams from 53 UEFA member associations participated in the 2011-12 UEFA Europa League.
Qualifying[]
The 2011-12 competition had 4 qualification rounds to reach the group stage.
New non-UCL teams | Teams in Europa League |
New teams from UCL | |
---|---|---|---|
1st Qualifying |
50 teams >>> | 50 teams | |
2nd Qualifying |
55 teams >>> |
25 winners from 1st Q 55 new teams -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-— 80 teams |
|
3rd Qualifying |
30 teams >>> |
40 winners from 2nd Q 30 new teams -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-— 70 teams |
|
Play-offs | 26 teams >>> |
35 winners from 3rd Q 26 new teams 15 UCL teams -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-— 76 teams |
<<< 15 losing teams from 3rd Qualifying Round |
Group Stage | 38 winners from Play-offs 10 UCL teams -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-— 48 teams |
<<< 10 losing teams from Play-off Round | |
Knockout Stage | 12 Group Stage winners 12 Group Stage runners-up 8 UCL teams -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-— 32 teams |
<<< 8 third place Group Stage teams |
Group Stage[]
The 48 teams form 12 groups of 4 teams, playing a home and away series.
Knockout Stage[]
The top 2 teams from each group are joined by the 8 third-place finishers (indicated by ³) from each group of the UEFA Champions League to form a 32 team knockout stage. Each team play two matches against each other on a home-and-away basis.
³ Third place finishers in UEFA Champions League Group Stage
Final[]
The final this season was played at Arena Națională, Bucharest where in an all-Spanish final Atlético Madrid defeated Athletic Bilbao.