Except of Second Round and Quarter Finals, the rest of stages were played in a two-legged format similar to those of European competitions. If the aggregated score was tied after both games, the team with the higher number of away goals advanced. If the number of away goals was equal in both games, the match was decided byextra time and apenalty shootout, if necessary.
In order to reduce the number of participating teams for the First Round to 32, a preliminary tournament was played. Only teams from theSecond Division (third level) were allowed to enter. Each Second Division group played its own tournament. In contrast to the main tournament, the preliminary tournament was held as a single-leg knock-out competition.[2]
All 30 teams of the2011–12 Superliga andFirst Division entered in this round along with the two qualifiers from the Second Preliminary Round. The first legs were played on 21 September 2011 and the second legs took place on 27 September 2011.
In a change from last year's format, this stage of the competition will be played as a group stage. The 16 winners from the First Round will be placed in 4 groups of 4 teams each. Each group will play a double round robin schedule for a total of 6 games for each team. The top 2 teams in each groups will move on to the next round of the competition. These matches took place between 18 October and 20 December 2011.
The 8 winners from the Second Round will be placed in 2 groups of 4 teams each. Each group will play a double round robin schedule for a total of 6 games for each team. The top 2 teams in each groups will move on to the next round of the competition. These matches took place between 28 January and 20 March 2012.
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