[1] Defending champions Monterrey won the title, and qualified as the CONCACAF representative at the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup.

A total of nine clubs from the North American Football Union participated in the Champions League.

In Mexico, the winners of the Mexican Primera División Apertura and Clausura tournaments earned direct berths into the group stage of the Champions League, while the tournament runners-up earned berths into the preliminary round.

For the United States, three of its four spots were allocated through the Major League Soccer regular season and playoffs, while the fourth spot was allocated to the winner of the domestic cup competition, the U.S. Open Cup.

Twelve clubs from the Central American Football Union qualified to the Champions League.

[3] Like the previous editions, the tournament is divided into three phases:[4] Teams from the same association (excluding "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association) may not be drawn with each other in the preliminary round and Group Stage, but may be drawn with each other in the championship round, where the only restriction is that in the quarterfinals, a group winner has to be drawn with the runner-up of another group and also host the second leg.

Humberto Suazo won the Golden Boot over Oribe Peralta by the tie-breaker of scoring more goals over the two-leg final.

[10] Oribe Peralta won the Golden Ball, determined by a combination of fan and media votes.