CAF Champions League

CAF Champions League

Founded	1964
Region	Africa (CAF)
Number of teams	8 (Group stage) 52 (Total)
Current champions	ES Tunis
Most successful club	Al-Ahly SC (6 titles)
Website	cafonline.com
2012 CAF Champions League

The CAF Champions League is an annual international club football competition run by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The top club sides from Africa's football leagues are invited to participate in this competition, which is the premier club football competition on the continent and the equivalent to the UEFA Champions League. Due to sponsorship reasons, the official name is Orange CAF Champions League, with Orange Champions League also in use.

The winner of the tournament earns a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup, a tournament contested between the champion clubs from all six continental confederations.

History

Early years

Initially, the competition saw the league champions of each national league existing under the jurisdiction of the CAF coming together over a 12 month period of home and away knock-out fixtures until the quarter-final, semi-final and final stage was reached for the winning team to be declared the African champion of champions.

Starting life as the 'African Champions Cup' in 1964, the first team to lift the trophy was Cameroonian side Oryx Douala, who beat Stade Malien of Mali 2-1 in a one-off final.

There was no tournament held the following year, but the action resumed again in 1966, when the two-legged ‘home and away’ final was introduced, which saw another Malian team AS Real Bamako take on Stade Abidjan of the Côte d'Ivoire. Bamako won the home leg 3-1 but it all came apart for them in the away game in Abidjan as the Ivorians went on to win 4-1 to take the title 5-4 on aggregate.

Drama followed in 1967 when Ghana's Asante Kotoko met the DRC's TP Mazembe, with both matches ending in draws (1-1 and 2-2 respectively). CAF suggested a play-off, but the Ghanaians refused to compete^{[citation needed]} and the title was handed to Mazembe. Just to prove they were deserving winners, TP Mazembe went on to win the title again the following year.

However, the Ghanaians got their revenge in 1970, when Kotoko and Mazembe once again met in the final. Once again, the first game ended 1-1 but against expectation the Ghanaians ran out 2-1 winners in their away game to lift the title that had eluded them three years earlier.

The 1970s saw a remarkable rise in the fortunes of Cameroonian club football, which created the platform of success enjoyed by Cameroonian football at international level today. Between 1971 and 1980 Cameroonian teams won the cup four times, with Canon Yaoundé taking three titles (1971, 1978 and 1980) and Union Douala lifting the cup in 1979. In between the Cameroonian victories the honor was shared with another team enjoying a golden age, Guinean side Hafia Conakry, who won it three times during this period (1972, 1975 and 1977).

Egyptian dominance

Although only two North African teams had ever won the title before 1981 - Egypt's Ismaily in 1969, and Algeria's MC Alger in 1976 - since then, North Africa's teams have dominated the championship, between them winning the title on no fewer than 22 out of the last 28 tournaments.

Particularly dominant have been the two Egyptian giants and Cairo-based arch-rivals, al-Ahly and el Zamalek. The Cairo ‘Red Devils’ (al-Ahly) have won it a record six occasions- in 1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2008; while the Cairo ‘Whites Knights’ (el Zamalek) have taken the honours on no fewer than five occasions - 1984, 1986, 1993, 1996 and 2002.

Another North African team that has made a big impression in this tournament is Morocco's Raja Casablanca, who has emerged victorious three times – in 1989, 1997 and 1999.

Recent developments

Apart from the introduction of the away goals rule (in which the team wins which has scored more goals playing ‘away’ if there is a tie in the aggregate score line over the two legs), very little changed in this competition until 1997. In this year, CAF took the bold step to follow the lead established a few years earlier in UEFA by creating a league stage in the tournament and changing the name to the CAF Champions League. CAF also introduced prize money for participants for the first time.

With a purse of US$1 million on offer to the winners and US$750 000 to the losing finalist, the new Champions League had become far and away the richest club competition in Africa. In the new format, the league champions of the respective CAF member countries went through a series of preliminary rounds until a last 16 stage. The 8 winners of this round were then drawn into two mini-leagues of 4 teams each, with each team playing each other on a home and away basis. At the end of the league stage, the top two teams in each group meet in the semifinals, with the winners going through to contest the finals.

From the 2009 season, the winners purse was increased to US$1.5 million and the runners up to US$1 million.

In 2010, TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo became the first club ever to repeat as champions on two separate occasions. Their first pair of wins came in 1967 and 1968, before repeating the feat again in 2009 and 2010.

Challenges facing the competition

Scheduling, structure, and venues are some of the problems in which CAF faces.

Many feel the competition should schedule their fixtures to similar timelines of the UEFA Champions League. African Champions League usually begins around January and finishes around November. Most (but not all) of the African national domestic leagues begin around July, August, or September and finish around April, May, or June. Because not all national domestic leagues begin around the same time, fixtures to this competition are organized poorly. And most national league administrators want to align the African Champions League to their national domestic leagues. The only way to fix this problem is to co-ordinate all national domestic leagues in Africa with African Champions League.

Many national associations want the competition expanded to 16 teams in group stage. The stronger national leagues feel the competition would be more profitable and successful by awarding extra spots to their leagues.

Structure and qualification

In 1997 the CAF Champions League replaced the previous pan-African competition, the African Cup of Champions Clubs; this had run from 1964–1996 ^[1].

The competition is open to the winners of all CAF-affiliated national leagues, as well as the holder of the competition from the previous season. From the 2004 competition the runner-up of the league of the 12 highest-ranked countries also entered the tournament creating a 64-team field. This was in response to the merging of the CAF Cup, the secondary pan-African club competition where the league runner-ups would previous play, with the CAF Cup Winners' Cup to create the CAF Confederation Cup. The 12 countries would be ranked on the performance of their clubs in the previous 5 years.

The Champions' League operates as a knockout competition, with a final group stage, with each tie (including the final) played over two legs - home and away. There are 3 knockout stages: the preliminary stage, the first round (32 teams) and the second round (16 teams). The 8 teams knocked out of the second round are entered into the Confederation Cup to play against the final 8 teams in that competition. After the second round, the last 8 teams are split into two groups of 4. The winner and runner-up in these groups are sent to play in a semi-final for the chance of contesting the final.

Prize money

Since 2009 season there was an increase in prize money to be shared between the top eight clubs as follows:

Final position	Money awarded to club
1	$1,500,000
2	$1,000,000
Semi-finalists	$700,000
3rd in group stage	$500,000
4th in group stage	$400,000

African Champions League Finals

African Cup Of Champions Clubs (1964-1997)

Year	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Attendance
1964 Details	Oryx Douala	2 – 1	Stade Malien	Accra Stadium, Accra
1966 Details	AS Real Bamako	3 – 1	Stade Abidjan	Stade Municipal, Bamako
	Stade Abidjan	4 – 1	AS Real Bamako	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan
	Stade Abidjan won 5 – 4 on aggregate
1967 Details	Asante Kotoko FC	1 – 1	TP Engelbert	Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi
	TP Engelbert	2 – 2	Asante Kotoko FC	20 May Stadium, Kinshasa
	TP Engelbert	w/o	Asante Kotoko FC	Stade Omnisports de Yaoundé, Yaoundé
	TP Engelbert won by withdraw of Asante Kotoko on the 3rd match
1968 Details	TP Engelbert	5 – 0	Étoile Filante	20 May Stadium, Kinshasa
	Étoile Filante	4 – 1	TP Engelbert	Stade Général Eyadema, Lomé
	TP Engelbert won 6 – 4 on aggregate
1969 Details	TP Engelbert	2 – 2	Ismaily SC	20 May Stadium, Kinshasa
	Ismaily SC	3 – 1	TP Engelbert	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Ismaily SC won 5 – 3 on aggregate
1970 Details	Asante Kotoko FC	1 – 1	TP Engelbert	Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi
	TP Engelbert	1 – 2	Asante Kotoko FC	20 May Stadium, Kinshasa
	Asante Kotoko FC won 3 – 2 on aggregate
1971 Details	Asante Kotoko FC	3 – 0	Canon Yaoundé	Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi
	Canon Yaoundé	2 – 0	Asante Kotoko FC	Stade Militaire Garoua, Yaoundé
	Canon Yaoundé	1 – 0	Asante Kotoko	Stade Militaire Garoua, Yaoundé
	Canon Yaoundé won 1 – 0 on the 3rd game
1972 Details	Hafia FC	4 – 2	Simba FC	Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry
	Simba FC	2 – 3	Hafia FC	Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala
	Hafia FC won 7 – 4 on aggregate
1973 Details	Asante Kotoko FC	4 – 2	AS Vita Club	Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi
	AS Vita Club	3 – 0	Asante Kotoko FC	20 May Stadium, Kinshasa
	AS Vita Club won 5 – 4 on aggregate
1974 Details	CARA Brazzaville	4 – 2	Ghazl Al-Mehalla	Stade de la Revolution, Brazzaville
	Ghazl Al-Mehalla	1 – 2	CARA Brazzaville	El-Mahalla Stadium, El-Mahalla El-Kubra
	CARA Brazzaville won 6 – 3 on aggregate
1975 Details	Hafia FC	1 – 0	Enugu Rangers	Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry
	Enugu Rangers	1 – 2	Hafia FC	Surulere Stadium, Lagos
	Hafia FC won 3 – 1 on aggregate
1976 Details	Hafia FC	3 – 0	MC Alger	Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry
	MC Alger	3 – 0 (4 - 1 Pen)	Hafia FC	Stade 5 Juillet 1962, Algiers
	MC Alger won 4 – 1 on penalties (3 – 3 on aggregate)
1977 Details
	Accra Hearts of Oak SC	0 – 1	Hafia FC	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra
	Hafia FC	3 – 2	Accra Hearts of Oak SC	Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry
Hafia FC won 4 – 2 on aggregate
1978 Details	Hafia FC	0 – 0	Canon Yaoundé	Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry
	Canon Yaoundé	2 – 0	Hafia FC	Stade Omnisport, Yaoundé
	Canon Yaoundé won 2 – 0 on aggregate
1979 Details
	Accra Hearts of Oak SC	1 – 0	Union Douala	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra
	Union Douala	1 – 0 (5 - 3 Pen)	Accra Hearts of Oak SC	Stade Omnisport, Yaoundé
Union Douala won 5 – 3 on penalties (1 – 1 on aggregate)
1980 Details	Canon Yaoundé	2 – 2	AS Bilima	Stade Militaire Garoua, Yaoundé
	AS Bilima	0 – 3	Canon Yaoundé	20 May Stadium, Kinshasa
	Canon Yaoundé won 5 – 2 on aggregate
1981 Details
	JE Tizi-Ouzou	4 – 0	AS Vita Club	Stade 1er Novembre 1954, Tizi-Ouzou
	AS Vita Club	0 – 1	JE Tizi-Ouzou	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra
JE Tizi-Ouzou won 5 – 0 on aggregate
1982 Details	Al-Ahly	3 – 0	Asante Kotoko FC	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Asante Kotoko FC	1 – 1	Al-Ahly	Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi
	Al-Ahly won 4 – 1 on aggregate
1983 Details
	Al-Ahly	0 – 0	Asante Kotoko FC	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Asante Kotoko FC	1 – 0	Al-Ahly	Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi
Asante Kotoko FC won 1 – 0 on aggregate
1984 Details	Zamalek SC	2 – 0	Shooting Stars FC	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Shooting Stars FC	0 – 1	Zamalek SC	Surulere Stadium, Lagos
	Zamalek SC won 3 – 0 on aggregate
1985 Details
	FAR Rabat	5 – 2	AS Bilima	Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat
	AS Bilima	1 – 1	FAR Rabat	Mobutu Stadium, Lubumbashi
FAR Rabat won 6 – 3 on aggregate
1986 Details	Zamalek SC	2 – 0	Africa Sports	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Africa Sports	2 – 0 (2 - 4 Pen)	Zamalek SC	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan
	Zamalek SC won 4 – 2 on penalties (2 – 2 on aggregate)
1987 Details
	Al-Hilal Club	0 – 0	Al-Ahly	Al-Hilal Stadium, Omdurman
	Al-Ahly	2 – 0	Al-Hilal Club	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
Al-Ahly won 2 – 0 on aggregate
1988 Details	Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC	1 – 0	EP Sétif	Liberty Stadium, Ibadan
	EP Sétif	4 – 0	Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC	Stade Mohamed Hamlaoui, Constantine	50,000
	EP Sétif won 4 – 1 on aggregate
1989 Details
	Raja CA Casablanca	1 – 0	MP Oran	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca
	MP Oran	1 – 0 (2 - 4 Pen)	Raja CA Casablanca	Ahmed Zabana Stadium, Oran	50,000
Raja CA Casablanca won 4 – 2 on penalties (1 – 1 on aggregate)
1990 Details	JS Kabylie	1 – 0	Nkana Red Devils	Stade 5 Juillet 1962, Algiers	70,000
	Nkana Red Devils	1 – 0 (2 - 4 Pen)	JS Kabylie	Independence Stadium, Lusaka	35,000
	JS Kabylie won 5 – 3 on penalties (1 – 1 on aggregate)
1991 Details
	Club Africain	6 – 2	Villa SC	Stade El Menzah, Tunis	40,000
	Villa SC	1 – 1	Club Africain	Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala	25,000
Club Africain won 7 – 3 on aggregate
1992 Details	Wydad Casablanca	2 – 0	Al-Hilal Club	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca
	Al-Hilal Club	0 – 0	Wydad Casablanca	Al-Hilal Stadium, Omdurman
	Wydad Casablanca won 2 – 0 on aggregate
1993 Details
	Asante Kotoko FC	0 – 0	Zamalek SC	Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi
	Zamalek SC	0 – 0 (7 - 6 Pen)	Asante Kotoko FC	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
Zamalek SC won 7 – 6 on penalties (0 – 0 on aggregate)
1994 Details	Zamalek SC	0 – 0	ES Tunis	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	ES Tunis	3 – 1	Zamalek SC	Stade El Menzah, Tunis
	ES Tunis won 3 – 1 on aggregate
1995 Details
	Orlando Pirates FC	2 – 2	ASEC Mimosas	FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
	ASEC Mimosas	0 – 1	Orlando Pirates FC	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan
Orlando Pirates FC won 3 – 2 on aggregate
1996 Details	Shooting Stars FC	2 – 1	Zamalek SC	Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan
	Zamalek SC	2 – 1 (5 - 4 Pen)	Shooting Stars FC	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Zamalek SC won 5 – 4 on penalties (3 – 3 on aggregate)

CAF Champions League (1997–present)

Year	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Attendance
1997 Details	Obuasi Goldfields	1 – 0	Raja CA Casablanca	Len Clay Stadium, Obuasi	20,000
	Raja CA Casablanca	1 – 0 (5 - 4 Pen)	Obuasi Goldfields	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca	85,000
	Raja CA Casablanca won 5 – 4 on penalties (1 – 1 on aggregate)
1998 Details	Dynamos FC	0 – 0	ASEC Mimosas	National Sports Stadium, Harare	45,000
	ASEC Mimosas	4 – 2	Dynamos FC	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan	50,000
	ASEC Mimosas won 4 – 2 on aggregate
1999 Details	Raja CA Casablanca	0 – 0	ES Tunis	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca
	ES Tunis	0 – 0 (3 - 4 Pen)	Raja CA Casablanca	Stade El Menzah, Tunis	50,000
	Raja CA Casablanca won 4 – 3 on penalties (0 – 0 on aggregate)
2000 Details	ES Tunis	1 – 2	Accra Hearts of Oak SC	Stade El Menzah, Tunis	30,000
	Accra Hearts of Oak SC	3 – 1	ES Tunis	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra	45,000
	Accra Hearts of Oak SC won 5 – 2 on aggregate
2001 Details	Mamelodi Sundowns FC	1 – 1	Al-Ahly	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria	5,000
	Al-Ahly	3 – 0	Mamelodi Sundowns FC	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo	80,000
	Al-Ahly won 4 – 1 on aggregate
2002 Details	Raja CA Casablanca	0 – 0	Zamalek SC	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca
	Zamalek SC	1 – 0	Raja CA Casablanca	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Zamalek SC won 1 – 0 on aggregate
2003 Details	Enyimba International FC	2 – 0	Ismaily SC	Enyimba International Stadium, Aba
	Ismaily SC	1 – 0	Enyimba International FC	Ismailia Stadium, Ismaïlia
	Enyimba International FC won 2 – 1 on aggregate
2004 Details	ÉS Sahel	2 – 1	Enyimba International FC	Stade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse
	Enyimba International FC	2 – 1 (5 - 3 Pen)	ÉS Sahel	Enyimba International Stadium, Aba
	Enyimba International FC won 5 – 3 on penalties (3 – 3 on aggregate)
2005 Details	ÉS Sahel	0 – 0	Al-Ahly	Stade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse	20,000
	Al-Ahly	3 – 0	ÉS Sahel	Military Academy Stadium, Cairo	35,000
	Al-Ahly won 3 – 0 on aggregate
2006 Details	Al-Ahly	1 – 1	CS Sfaxien	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	CS Sfaxien	0 – 1	Al-Ahly	Stade 14 January, Radès	65,000
	Al-Ahly won 2 – 1 on aggregate
2007 Details	ÉS Sahel	0 – 0	Al-Ahly	Stade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse
	Al-Ahly	1 – 3	ÉS Sahel	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	ÉS Sahel won 3 – 1 on aggregate
2008 Details	Al-Ahly	2 – 0	Coton Sport FC de Garoua	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
	Coton Sport FC de Garoua	2 – 2	Al-Ahly	Roumdé Adjia Stadium, Garoua
	Al-Ahly won 4 – 2 on aggregate
2009 Details	Heartland FC	2 – 1	TP Mazembe	Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri
	TP Mazembe	1 – 0	Heartland FC	Stade Frederic Kibassa Maliba, Lubumbashi
	TP Mazembe finish 2 – 2 on aggregate but won by the away goal
2010 Details	TP Mazembe	5 – 0	ES Tunis	Stade Frederic Kibassa Maliba, Lubumbashi	50,000
	ES Tunis	1 – 1	TP Mazembe	Stade 14 January, Radès	65,000
	TP Mazembe won 6 – 1 on aggregate
2011 Details	Wydad Casablanca	0 – 0	ES Tunis	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca
	ES Tunis	1 – 0	Wydad Casablanca	Stade 14 January, Radès	65,000
	ES Tunis won 1 – 0 on aggregate

Performance by team

Club	Won	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Al-Ahly SC	6	2	1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008	1983, 2007
Zamalek SC	5	1	1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002	1994
TP Mazembe	4	2	1967, 1968, 2009, 2010	1969, 1970
Hafia FC	3	2	1972, 1975, 1977	1976, 1978
Raja CA Casablanca	3	1	1989, 1997, 1999	2002
Canon Yaoundé	3	0	1971, 1978, 1980
Asante Kotoko FC	2	5	1970, 1983	1967, 1971, 1973, 1982, 1993
ES Tunis	2	3	1994, 2011	1999, 2000, 2010
JS Kabylie	2	0	1981, 1990
Enyimba International FC	2	0	2003, 2004
Accra Hearts of Oak SC	1	2	2000	1977, 1979
ÉS Sahel	1	2	2007	2004, 2005
AS Vita Club	1	1	1973	1981
ASEC Mimosas	1	1	1998	1995
Ismaily SC	1	1	1969	2003
Wydad Casablanca	1	1	1992	2011
ES Setif	1	0	1988
MC Alger	1	0	1976
Oryx Douala	1	0	1964
Union Douala	1	0	1979
CARA Brazzaville	1	0	1974
Stade Abidjan	1	0	1966
FAR Rabat	1	0	1985
Club Africain	1	0	1991
Orlando Pirates FC	1	0	1995
AS Dragons	0	2		1980, 1985
Heartland FC	0	2		1988, 2009
Shooting Stars FC	0	2		1984, 1996
Al-Hilal Club	0	2		1987, 1992
MC Oran	0	1		1989
Coton Sport FC de Garoua	0	1		2008
Africa Sports	0	1		1986
Ghazl El-Mehalla	0	1		1974
Ashanti Gold SC	0	1		1997
AS Real Bamako	0	1		1966
Stade Malien	0	1		1964
Enugu Rangers	0	1		1975
Mamelodi Sundowns FC	0	1		2001
Étoile Filante	0	1		1968
CS Sfaxien	0	1		2006
Simba FC	0	1		1972
Villa SC	0	1		1991
Nkana FC	0	1		1990
Dynamos FC	0	1		1998

Performance by country

Nation	Winners	Runners-up	Winning clubs	Runners-up
Egypt	12	5	Al-Ahly (6), Zamalek SC (5), Ismaily SC (1)	Al-Ahly (2), Zamalek SC (1), Ismaily SC (1), Ghazl Al-Mehalla (1)
DR Congo	5	5	TP Mazembe (4), AS Vita Club (1)	TP Mazembe (2), AS Dragons (2), AS Vita Club (1)
Morocco	5	2	Raja CA Casablanca (3), FAR Rabat (1), Wydad Casablanca (1)	Raja CA Casablanca (1), Wydad Casablanca (1)
Cameroon	5	1	Canon Yaoundé (3), Union Douala (1), Oryx Douala (1)	Coton Sport FC de Garoua (1)
Tunisia	4	6	ES Tunis (2), ES Sahel (1), Club Africain (1)	ES Tunis (3), ES Sahel (2), CS Sfaxien (1)
Algeria	4	1	JS Kabylie (2), ES Setif (1), MC Alger (1)	MC Oran (1)
Ghana	3	8	Asante Kotoko FC (2), Accra Hearts of Oak SC (1)	Asante Kotoko FC (5), Accra Hearts of Oak SC (2), Ashanti Gold SC (1)
Guinea	3	2	Hafia FC (3)	Hafia FC (2)
Nigeria	2	5	Enyimba International FC (2)	Shooting Stars FC (2), Heartland FC (2), Enugu Rangers (1)
Ivory Coast	2	2	ASEC Mimosas (1), Stade Abidjan (1)	ASEC Mimosas (1), Africa Sports (1)
South Africa	1	1	Orlando Pirates FC (1)	Mamelodi Sundowns FC (1)
Congo	1	0	CARA Brazzaville (1)
Mali	0	2		AS Real Bamako (1), Stade Malien (1)
Sudan	0	2		Al-Hilal Club (2)
Uganda	0	2		Simba FC (1), Villa SC (1)
Togo	0	1		Étoile Filante (1)
Zambia	0	1		Nkana FC (1)
Zimbabwe	0	1		Dynamos FC (1)

See also

• CAF Confederation Cup
• International club competition records

External links

• Official website
• Official MTN CAF Champions League website