The pool stage began with two matches on the evening of 11 November 2011, and ended on Sunday 22 January 2012.

The quarter-finalists then participates in a knockout tournament that ultimately ended with the final on Saturday 19 May at Twickenham Stadium in London.

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

Competition organiser European Rugby Cup (ERC) announced the fixtures, dates, and kickoff times for the first four rounds of pool play on 20 July 2011.

[3] ERC has four additional tiebreakers, used if tied teams are in different pools, or if the above steps cannot break a tie between teams in the same pool: All kickoff times are local to the match location.