[1] It began on 1 July 2010, with the first qualifying round matches, and concluded on 18 May 2011, with the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, between Porto and first-time finalists Braga.

This was the first all-Portuguese final of a European competition and only the third time that two Portuguese teams faced each other in Europe, following Braga's elimination of Benfica in the semi-finals.

Associations were allocated places according to their 2009 UEFA country coefficient, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2004–05 to 2008–09.

[6] Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.

If a lower-ranked club is victorious, it simply takes the place of its defeated opponent in the next round.

Prior to these draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they are purely for convenience of the draw and do not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition, while ensuring that teams from the same association not drawn against each other.

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order):[4] Following a trial at last year's UEFA Europa League, UEFA have announced that in both this year's and the 2011–12 competition, two extra officials would be used – with one on each goal line.

[26] The draws for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team) were held on 18 March 2011.

The 2011 UEFA Europa League final was played on 18 May 2011 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

Due to UEFA rules against corporate sponsorship outside the federation, for the final the stadium was referred to as the "Dublin Arena".