| Group A | Bayern Munich | Villarreal | Manchester City | Napoli |
| Group B | Inter Milan | Lille | CSKA Moscow | Trabzonspor |
| Group C | Manchester Utd | Benfica | Basel | Otelul Galati |
| Group D | Real Madrid | Olympique Lyon | Ajax | Dinamo Zagreb |
| Group E | Chelsea | Valencia | Bayer Leverkusen | Genk |
| Group F | Arsenal | Olympique Marseille | Olympiacos | Borussia Dortmund |
| Group G | Porto | Shakhtar Donetsk | Zenit | APOEL Nicosia |
| Group H | Barcelona | AC Milan | BATE Borisov | Viktoria Plzen |
League champions Barcelona, runners up Real Madrid and third placed Valencia all enter the competition at the league stage in September. Fourth placed Villarreal have to play one qualifying round over two legs in August via the "non-champions" path. (30.06.11)
| Play-off round | 17 Aug / 23 Aug |
| League phase | starts 13/14 September |
| Round of 16 | 14/15/21/22 February 6/7/13/14 March |
| Quarter-finals | 27/28 March 3/4 April |
| Semi-finals | 17/18 April 24/25 April |
| Final | 19 May (at Munich, Germany) |
Champions
League 10/11
Champions
League 09/10
Champions
League 08/09
Champions
League 07/08
Champions
League 06/07
Champions
League 05/06
Champions
League 04/05
Champions
League 03/04
Champions
League 02/03
Champions
League 01/02
Champions League
00/01