on august 25, altidore started in the second leg of the uefa europa league final qualifying match against aalesunds fk from norway. before being substituted in the 63rd minute by charlison benschop, altidore scored twice. his first goal in the 23rd minute gave az a 2–0 lead and his second goal in the 59th minute brought the score to 4–0 in a game az eventually won by 6–0. altidore added to his europa league account when he opened the scoring in the 21st minute of his side's first group match against malmö ff on september 15. after a long wait altidore returned to the score sheet for az, netting in the 83rd minute of a 3–0 victory over ado den haag on november 6 that also secured his side's 10th victory of the eredivisie campaign. on december 4, altidore scored his side's only goal in a 5–1 loss to heerenveen. altidore had to wait until february 8, 2012 to score his next league goal, grabbing a brace in a 6–0 win over ado den haag. the result put az level on points with psv at the top of the table.