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.[3] 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.[4] Countries are allocated places according to their 2010 UEFA league coefficient for women,[5][6] 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 round
Teams advancing from previous round
Competition format
Qualifying round (32 teams)
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 (32 teams)
14 domestic league winners from associations 1–14
8 domestic league runners-up from associations 1–8
1 As the new English Super League did not start until May 2011, the FA decided to give their spots to the two finalists of the 2010–11 FA Women's Cup.[7]
CH denotes the national champion, RU the national runner-up, CW the cup-winner, CR losing cup finalist.
Qualifying round
Seeding and draw
The draw was held on 23 June 2011.[8] 32 teams entered in the qualifying round, and were divided into eight groups of four teams, with one team from each seeding pot:
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:
Higher number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question.
Superior goal difference resulting from the matches among the teams in question.
Higher number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question.
Superior goal difference in all group matches
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches
Higher number of club coefficient points
Drawing of lots
Criteria 1–3 are reapplied until the tie cannot be resolved; only then is criteria 4 used.
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:
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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] Seeded teams play their second leg at home.
