58th CAF Champions League season
International football competition
The 2021–22 CAF Champions League (known as the 2021–22 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League[1] for sponsorship purposes) was the 58th season of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 26th season under the current CAF Champions League title.
Wydad Casablanca won their 3rd title with a 2–0 win against the defending champions, Al Ahly, in the final at Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, Morocco, which hosted a second consecutive final. As winners, Wydad earned the right to play against RS Berkane, the winners of the 2021–22 CAF Confederation Cup, in the 2022 CAF Super Cup.[2]
Association team allocation
A total of 42 out of the 56 CAF member associations entered this season's CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition.[2] For this season, the CAF utilized the 2017–2021 CAF 5-year ranking, which calculated points for each entrant association based on their clubs’ performance over those 5 years in the CAF club competitions. The criteria for points were as follows:[3][4][5]
The points were multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
- 2020–21: x 5
- 2019–20: × 4
- 2018–19: × 3
- 2018: × 2
- 2017: × 1
Teams
The following 54 teams from 42 out of the total 54 member associations entered this season's tournament.
- Teams in
- Bold received a bye to the second round.
- The other teams entered the first round.
Associations are shown according to their 2017–2021 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score (in parentheses) indicated.
- Associations which did not enter a team
Notes:
- ^
Algeria (ALG): The
2020–21 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 didn't conclude by the CAF deadline. As a result, the
Algerian Football Federation announced that
CR Belouizdad and
ES Sétif, who were at positions 1 and 2 respectively in the league table after 35 rounds, would represent Algeria in the 2021–22 CAF Champions League.
[6] - ^
Botswana (BOT): The
2020–21 Botswana Premier League was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Botswana. As a result, the
Botswana Football Association announced that
Jwaneng Galaxy, who were champions of
the previous season, will represent Botswana in the 2021–22 CAF Champions League.
[citation needed] - ^
Cameroon (CMR): The 2020–21 Elite One didn't conclude by the CAF deadline. As a result, the
Cameroonian Football Federation announced that
Fovu de Baham, who were at first place by 8 August 2021, will represent Cameroon in the 2021–22 CAF Champions League.
[7] - ^
Egypt (EGY): The
2020–21 Egyptian Premier League didn't conclude by the CAF deadline. As a result, the
Egyptian Football Association announced that
Zamalek and
Al Ahly, who were at positions 1 and 2 respectively on the league table after 29 rounds, will represent Egypt in the 2021–22 CAF Champions League.
[8] - ^
Kenya (KEN): The
2020–21 FKF Premier League didn't conclude by the CAF deadline. As a result, the
Football Kenya Federation announced that
Tusker, who were at first place on the league table on 30 June 2021, will represent Kenya in the 2021–22 CAF Champions League.
[9] - ^
Malawi (MWI): The
2020–21 Super League of Malawi didn't conclude by the CAF deadline. As a result, the
Football Association of Malawi announced that
Nyasa Big Bullets, who were at first place by 1 August 2021, will represent Malawi in the 2021–22 CAF Champions League.
[citation needed] - ^
Mozambique (MOZ): The
2020 Moçambola didn't conclude by the CAF deadline. As a result, the
Mozambican Football Federation announced that
UD Songo, who finished as the runners-up in the
2019 Moçambola, will represent Mozambique in the 2021–22 CAF Champions League.
[citation needed]
Schedule
The schedule for this season's edtition of the tournament were as follows:
Qualifying rounds
The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 13 August 2021 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[10][11][12]
In the qualifying rounds, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still tied, extra time won't be played, and the penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).[2]
First round
Notes:
- ^ The match involving Guinean clubs were played over a single leg, and not in the Guinean territory due to the political and security situation in Guinea following the 2021 Guinean coup d'état.[13]
Second round
The 16 winners of the second round advanced to the group stage, while the 16 losers of the second round entered the Confederation Cup play-off round.
Group stage
In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
Group A
Source: CAF
Notes:
- ^ a b Head-to-head points: Al Hilal 3, Al Merrikh 3. Head-to-head goal differences: Al Hilal 0, Al Merrikh 0. Head-to-head away goals: Al Hilal 1, Al Merrikh 0
Group B
Source: CAF
Group C
Source: CAF
Group D
Source: CAF
Knockout stage
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
- In the draw for the quarter-finals, the four group winners were seeded, and the four group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group cannot be drawn against each other, while teams from the same association can be drawn against each other.
- In the draws for semi-finals, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw.
Bracket
The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals and semi-finals), which was held on 5 April 2022, 13:00 GMT (15:00 local time, UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[14]
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
The final was played on 30 May 2022 at Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca.
Top goalscorers
Team eliminated / inactive for this round.
See also
References
- ^ "Total, Title Sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations and Partner of African Football". CAFOnline.com. 21 July 2016. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ a b c d "CAF Champions League regulations" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
- ^ "16 Clubs for Group Phase of CC and CL effective 2017". CAFOnline.com. 11 May 2016. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ "New adopted format for Club Competitions". CAFOnline.com. 30 May 2016. Archived from the original on 18 July 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
- ^ "CAF disowns club ranking published by some websites". CAFOnline.com. 9 June 2011. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
- ^ "اتحاد كرة القدم الجزائري يحدد الأندية المشاركة بدوري أبطال إفريقيا والكونفيدرالية" [AFF decides participating teams in next season's African competitions]. Al-Ahram (in Arabic). 29 July 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ "Coupes Africaines : Coton sport et Fovu de Baham pour représenter le Cameroun" [African cups: Coton Sport and Fove de Baham set to represent Cameroon]. Africa Foot United (in French). 12 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ @EFA (10 August 2021). "اتحاد الكرة يرسل أسماء الأندية المصرية المشاركة في بطولتي أفريقيا" [EFA sends names of Egyptian clubs participating in the Champions League and Confederation Cup next season to CAF] (Tweet) (in Arabic) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Be on top by June 30, qualify for CAF Champions League - FKF". The Standard. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ "Road to TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Group Stage mapped out". CAF. 13 August 2021.
- ^ "CL Fixtures (1) - First Round of Preliminaries" (PDF). CAF. 13 August 2021.
- ^ "CL Fixtures (2) - 2nd Round of Preliminaries" (PDF). CAF. 13 August 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-08-13.
- ^ "Statement on CAF interclubs preliminary fixtures: Guinea Clubs". CAF Online. CAF. 8 September 2021.
- ^ "TotalEnergies Champions League and Confederation Cup draw date announced". CAF. 24 March 2022.
- ^ "CAF, Morocco FA announce TotalEnergies 2021-2022 Champions League final ticketing and spectator information". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
External links