CAF Champions League

Sports Name: Soccer / Football

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Updated On : 06 May, 2019

Full Name
CAF Champions League

Type
international

Location
Africa

Disabled
No

Conducted
Annually

Gender
Male

Trivia

The official name of the tournament is Total CAF Champions League while Total Champions League is also in use (as "Total", a French multinational integrated oil and gas sponsors the league).

The CAF Champions League is a premier continental club football championship, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Top football clubs from all over Africa participate in the tournament. The winner of the tournament qualifies by default for the FIFA Club World Cup and also faces the winner of CAF Confederation Cup in the CAF Super Cup. A total of fifty-two teams from forty-four associations participate in the competition, and sixteen of them make it to the group stage. Till now Egypt’s Al Ahly has won the tournament eight times. The origin of the competition dates back to 1961 starting with African Champions Cup; The first club to lift the trophy was Cameroon’s Oryx Douala, they beat Stade Malien of Mali by 2-1 in the final. The tournament was not held the following year. However, it was resumed again in 1966. From its humble beginning, the Championship has established itself as one of the most premier club football tournaments alongside UEFA Champions League.

Competition Format

The format of the championship has undergone many changes since its foundation. As of the 2016, the tournament includes a preliminary stage.
Total 32 teams compete in the first round and the second round contains 16 teams.
Only eight would make it to the next stage. It is played in a two-legged home-away format. In case of a tie the team with most number of away goals wins.
These eight teams are further split into two groups, with each group having four teams.
The winner and the runner-up of each group qualify for the semifinals. The winning sides at the semifinals compete for the trophy while the losing sides compete for the third position.
On 30th May 2016, the CAF announced that from the 2017 edition of the tournament, the sixteen teams at group stage would be divided into four groups.