European Cup Finals 2010 - 2019
The Champions League now started at the end of June with the qualifying rounds followed by a play-off round in August. The ten qualifiers then joined 22 seeded teams in the group stage, held through the autumn while teams eliminated in the last two rounds entered the Europa League. The draw for the knock out stages was held in December with the 16 surviving teams playing their matches between February and April. The top two in each group went forward to the knock-out phase while the third placed teams entered the Europa League. The final was held, as is traditional, in the second half of May. A total of 76 teams from the 52 UEFA associations participated in the 2011-12 competition.
(Photograph courtesy of Totally Cool Pix.com)