| EHF Champions League | |
| Year: | 2011–12 |
| Sport: | Handball |
| Teams: | 32 (qualification stage) 24 (group stage) 16 (knockout stage) |
| Runners-Up1: |  Atlético Madrid |
| Matches: | 148 |
| Goals: | 8248 |
| Top Scorer: | Mikkel Hansen (98 goals) |
| Previous: | 2010–11 |
| Next: | 2012–13 |
The 2011–12 EHF Champions League was the 52nd edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the nineteenth edition under the current EHF Champions League format. FC Barcelona were the defending champions. The final four was played on 26–27 May 2012.[1] For the third consecutive year it will be played at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne.[2]
THW Kiel won the title for the third time after defeating Atlético Madrid 26–21 in the final.[3]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Qualification tournament | 27 June 2011 | 3–4 September 2011 | |
| Wild card tournament | ||||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 28 June 2011 | 28 September–2 October 2011 | |
| Matchday 2 | 5–9 October 2011 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 12–16 October 2011 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 19–23 October 2011 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 16–20 November 2011 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 23–27 November 2011 | |||
| Matchday 7 | 30 November–4 December 2011 | |||
| Matchday 8 | 8–12 February 2012 | |||
| Matchday 9 | 15–19 February 2012 | |||
| Matchday 10 | 22–29 February 2012 | |||
| Knockout phase | Last 16 | 28 February 2012 | 14–18 March 2012 | 21–25 March 2012 |
| Quarterfinals | 27 March 2012 | 18–22 April 2012 | 25–29 April 2012 | |
| Final four | 2 May 2012 | 26–27 May 2012 | ||
A total of 12 teams took part in the qualification tournaments. The clubs were drawn into three groups of four and played a semifinal and the final. The winner of the qualification groups advanced to the group stage, while the eliminated clubs went to the EHF Cup. Matches were played at 3–4 September 2011.
| width=15% | Pot 1 | width=15% | Pot 2 | width=15% | Pot 3 | width=15% | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 IK Sävehof HC Metalurg HT Tatran Prešov | AEK Athens H.C. FH Hafnarfjörður HC Dinamo-Minsk |  Haslum HK Fivers Margareten RK Partizan | F.C. Porto Beşiktaş J.K. Maccabi Rishon LeZion |
The tournament was organised by the Slovakian club HT Tatran Prešov.[4]
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The tournament was organised by the Austrian club Fivers Margareten.
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The tournament was organised by the Israeli club Maccabi Rishon LeZion.
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Initially five teams applied for the four tournament places and following the decision of the European Handball Federation the request from the Danish Handball Association for Skjern Handbold was rejected.[5] The clubs were drawn together automatically according to their league coefficient and decided the winner of the tournament using a final four system.[6] Only the victorious team advanced to the Champions League group stage, while the losing sides continued their European adventure in the EHF Cup. The tournament was held at 3–4 September 2011, and was organized by Vive Targi Kielce.[7]
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See main article: 2011–12 EHF Champions League group stage. The draw for the group stage took place at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna on 28 June 2011 at 11:00 local time. A total of 24 teams were drawn into four groups of six. Teams were divided into six pots, based on EHF coefficients. Clubs from the same pot or the same association could not be drawn into the same group, except the wild card tournament winner, which did not enjoy any protection.[8] [9]
| width=15% | Pot 1 | width=15% | Pot 2 | width=15% | Pot 3 | width=15% | Pot 4 | width=15% | Pot 5 | width=15% | Pot 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FC Barcelona Hamburg Chekhovskiye Medvedi Montpellier |  MKB Veszprém KC RK ZagrebAG København  RK Koper | Atlético Madrid THW Kiel HCM Constanța Kadetten Schaffhausen | St. Petersburg HC Chambéry Savoie HB CB Ademar León Füchse Berlin | SC Pick Szeged Bjerringbro-Silkeborg Bosna Sarajevo Orlen Wisła Płock | Partizan IK Sävehof HC Metalurg Vive Targi Kielce (WC) |
See main article: 2011–12 EHF Champions League knockout stage.
| Group | width=175 | Pot 1 | width=175 | Pot 2 | width=175 | Pot 3 | width=175 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | FC Barcelona | RK Zagreb | IK Sävehof | Kadetten Schaffhausen | ||||
| B | Atlético Madrid | MKB Veszprém KC | Vive Targi Kielce | Füchse Berlin | ||||
| C | Hamburg | RK Koper | Metalurg | Orlen Wisła Płock | ||||
| D | THW Kiel | AG København | CB Ademar León | Montpellier HB |
The draw was held on 28 February 2012 at 11:00 in Hørsholm, Denmark. The first legs will be played on 14–18 March, and the second legs will be played on 21–25 March 2012.[10] [11]
| width=200 | Team #1 | width=50 | Agg. | width=200 | Team #2 | width=100 | 1st match | width=100 | 2nd match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Füchse Berlin | 56–53 | 24–23 | |||||||
| Montpellier HB | 50–64 | FC Barcelona | 20–36 | ||||||
| Orlen Wisła Płock | 48–63 | THW Kiel | 24–27 | ||||||
| 57–62 | Atlético Madrid | 30–26 | |||||||
| CB Ademar León | 56–55 | 25–27 | |||||||
| Vive Targi Kielce | 50–51 | RK Koper | 23–25 | ||||||
| HC Metalurg | 40–44 | RK Zagreb | 21–26 | ||||||
| IK Sävehof | 49–60 | AG København | 24–26 |
The draw was held on 27 March 2012 at 11:30 local time in Vienna. The first legs were played on 18–22 April, and the second legs were played on 25–29 April 2012.[12] [13]
| width=175 | Pot 1 | width=175 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FC Barcelona THW Kiel Atlético Madrid Füchse Berlin | CB Ademar León AG København RK Koper RK Zagreb |
| width=200 | Team #1 | width=50 | Agg. | width=200 | Team #2 | width=100 | 1st match | width=100 | 2nd match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AG København | 62–59 | 33–36 | |||||||
| CB Ademar León | 52–52 | Füchse Berlin | 18–29 | ||||||
| RK Zagreb | 58–64 | THW Kiel | 27–33 | ||||||
| RK Koper | 50–54 | Atlético Madrid | 24–31 |
The semifinals was played on 26 May 2012. The third place game and the final was played on 27 May 2012 in the Lanxess Arena at Cologne, Germany. The draw was held on May 2, 2012 in Cologne.[14]
Final statistics[15]
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AG København | 98 | ||
| 2 | Atletico Madrid | 97 | ||
| 3 | RK Zagreb | 94 | ||
| THW Kiel | ||||
| 5 | AG København | 84 | ||
| 6 | AG København | 83 | ||
| 7 | Füchse Berlin | 81 | ||
| 8 | CB Ademar León | 80 | ||
| 9 | MKB Veszprém KC | 73 | ||
| 10 | HC Metalurg | 72 |