The 2011/2012 edition of the Panini Champions League sticker album is structured as usual with an introduction, the teams divided by groups, the legends and a tribute to the Women's Champions League. In the introduction we have 5 stickers: the competition logo, the trophy, 50 years of Panini sticker, the ball, and the logo of the final in Munich. In the following, we present the group division with the participating teams. As the previous edition, each team is placed on two pages with 17 stickers (1 shining logo and 16 players). In this album, players details are included on the sticker. Chelsea won the trophy after a thrilling final against Bayern Munich, decided by penalties.
Group A: Bayern Munchen, Villareal, Manchester City, Napoli
A very competitive group, in which Bayern got the first place and Napoli the second. Manchester City, at the first appearance in the recent Champions League, was eliminated for just one point. We find here stickers of great forwards: Ribery, Robben, Gomez (Bayern), Tevez, Balotelli, Aguero, David Silva (City), Cavani, Lavezzi (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villareal).
Group B: Internazionale, CSKA Moskva, Lille, Trabzonspor
Inter won the group in front of CSKA (main stickers: Akinfeev, Honda, Dzagoev, Vagner Love). Lille was out despite the presence of the talented Eden Hazard; here we find also the stickers of Debuchy (now at Newcastle) and the English midfielder Joe Cole. In Trabzonspor the main player is Halil Altintop.
Eden Hazard rising star at Lille Métropole
Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, Otelul Galati
Big surprise in this group, where Manchester was eliminated by Benfica and Basel. Stars like Rooney, Nani and Giggs left the competition sooner than expected. Basel could count again on some young talented players: Xhaka (1992, now at Borussia M.), Shaqiri (1991, now at Bayern M.), Zoua (1991, now at Hamburg). First participation in the Champions League for the Romanian team Otelul Galati.
Young talents at Basel: Xhaka, Shaqiri and Zoua
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dynamo Zagreb
Real Madrid stars reached again the semifinals, but they were eliminated by Bayern Munchen at penalties. Lyon got the second place in the group for goal difference after a suspicious 7-1 in Zagreb in the last match: Ajax was the victim of this scandal. However, two players of Zagreb deserve to be mentioned: Mateo Kovacic (1994, today a player of Internazionale) and Sime Vrsaljko (1992, now at Genoa).
The "rookie" sticker of Mateo Kovacic (now at Inter)
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, KRC Genk
In this group we find the winners of the competition, Chelsea FC. They struggled against Napoli and Barcelona, but they managed to reach the final in Munich, where they won at penalties after equalizing at minute 88' with a goal of Drogba. In this group we find also Valencia with Soldado (now at Tottenham), Leverkusen with Schurrle (now at Chelsea) and Belgian champions Genk. In this team we have to mention the sticker of Kevin de Bruyne, who is now a Chelsea player.
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiacos, Borussia Dortmund
Arsenal won the group with players like Song (now at Barcelona), Gervinho (now at Roma) and Van Persie (now at Manchester Utd). In Marseille we find the sticker of Rémy (now at Newcastle) and the young brothers Ayew. Dortmund was eliminated in the group; here we find the sticker of the rookie Gotze (now at Bayern) and Kagawa (now at Manchester).
Group G: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit, Apoel
Porto is as usual a source of talented players. In this album we find Guarin (Inter), James Rodriguez and Moutinho (Monaco), Hulk (Zenit). In Shakhtar there are players like Willian (Chelsea) and Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund). Apoel was the big surprise of the competition: without famous players they won the group and reached the quarter-finals.
Group H: Barcelona, Milan, Bate Borisov, Viktoria Plzen
Barcelona and Milan are again together in the group stage. They got easily the first and second place. In Bate Borisov we find the sticker of Mateja Kezman, former player of Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and PSG. Viktoria Plzen is a team composed only by Slovakian and Czechian players.
Legends and Women's Champions League
This year the Legends section includes 9 stickers to celebrate champions of editions from 2005/06 to 2010/11. The last two stickers of the album are dedicated to the Women's Champions League (Munich Final 2012 logo and the trophy).
Album details
Full name: Champions League - Official 2011 2012 sticker album
Publisher: Panini
Competition: Uefa Champions League
Number of teams: 32
Stickers per team: 17
Special sections: 5 intro stickers (logo, cup, 50 ys Panini, ball, final)
9 stickers "Legends"
2 stickers "Women's Champions League"
Total number of stickers: 560
