The tournament began with two matches on 10 November 2011 and ended with the final on 18 May 2012 at the Twickenham Stoop in London.

However, Quins parachuted into the knockout stage of this season's Challenge Cup, losing to Toulon in the quarter-finals.

Teams that did not qualify for the 2011–12 Heineken Cup were ordered into four tiers according to the European Rugby Club Ranking.

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2010–11 season.

(HC) Means a team has entered the competition from the Heineken Cup To be played on the weekend of 5–8 April 2012.