The 2011–12 Taça da Liga was the fifth edition of the Portuguese Taça da Liga. The first matches were played on 31 July 2011. The final was played on 14 April 2012, with Benfica defeating Gil Vicente 2–1 to win their fourth consecutive Taça da Liga.
This seasons' format consists of 3 rounds, plus knockout stages. In the first round, only second division teams play. All 16 teams are allocated into 4 groups of 4 teams each. Each team plays 3 matches and top two of each group advances. In the second round, teams that qualified from previous round are joined by the two Liga Sagres promoted teams and also the 6 worst in the top league in the previous season. There will be two-legged fixtures in which the winners will advance. The third round is where the remaining top 8 teams from previous season first division enter the competition. Again, as in the first round, the 16 teams are divided into 4 groups and each team will play 3 matches. However this time, only group winners advance. Both semi-finals and finals are one-legged fixtures.
The 2011–12 Taça da Liga Second Round matches were played on 8, 9, 26 and 27 October 2011 for the first legs whilst the second legs took place on 9, 12 and 13 November 2011. The winners over the two legs progressed to the Third Round.
The 2011–12 Taça da Liga Third Round group stage matches are to be played in January and February 2012. The eight winners of the two legged Second Round matches progressed to this round and are joined by the teams who finished in the top eight of the 2010–11 Primeira Liga. The sixteen teams will be seeded depending on their league position from the previous season. The sixteen teams involved in this round would be split into four groups from group A to D. The first round matches of the group stage took place on 21 December 2011 and 2–3 January 2012, the second-round games took place on 18 January and the third round matches took place on 2–3 February 2012.[1] The winners of each group would progress to the semi final stage to be played on the 21 March 2012.
Participating teams[]
Names in bold are the colloquial names of the clubs. Estoril, Gil Vicente, Marítimo, Moreirense, Penafiel, Portimonense, Santa Clara, Vitória de Setúbal all progressed from the Second Round to this phase. Benfica, Nacional, Paços de Ferreira, Porto, Rio Ave, Sporting CP, Braga and Vitória de Guimarães started their campaign at this stage.
The draw for the Third Round took place on 23 November 2012 at 12:00 at the LPFP headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal.[2] The teams involved in this round were seeded according to their league position from either the 2010–11 Primeira Liga or the 2010–11 Liga de Honra depending in which division they played in last season.[3]
^"Sorteio da 3.ª fase" [Third Round Draw] (in Portuguese). 23 November 2011. Archived from the original on 25 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
28', 61'
Miguel Rosa
Baba Diawara
Rodrigo
Wágner
Óscar Cardozo