The CAF Champions League is the most prestigious club football competition in Africa. Since its inception in 1964, the tournament has gone through various transformations, with its current format consisting of a group stage followed by knockout rounds. Here’s a detailed overview of the competition.
History
The CAF Champions League was first known as the African Cup of Champions Clubs, with only the champions of each African country’s top-flight league competing in a knockout tournament. The competition underwent changes in the 1990s, with group stages introduced followed by a knockout round. In 2002, the tournament was renamed the CAF Champions League.
Format
The current format of the CAF Champions League consists of several stages:
Preliminary round
Teams from the lower-ranked football associations compete in the preliminary round, consisting of two legs (home and away). The winner of each tie progresses to the next round.
First round
The first round consists of 32 teams: the 16 winners from the preliminary round and 16 teams from higher-ranked football associations. The winning team from each tie progresses to the next round.
Group stage
The 16 remaining teams are divided into four groups, with each group consisting of four teams. The teams play against each other in a round-robin format, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the knockout rounds.
Knockout stage
The knockout stage consists of quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are played over two legs, home and away, with the team with the most goals on aggregate progressing to the next round. The final is played as a one-legged tie in a neutral venue.
Winners
The most successful club in the CAF Champions League is Al Ahly, with 10 titles to their name. Egyptian clubs have won the competition a total of 14 times, with Tunisian clubs winning four times and Moroccan clubs three times. The current holder of the trophy is Al Ahly, who won the 2019-20 competition.
