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2024–25 CAF Champions League

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2024–25 CAF Champions League 2024/2025
TotalEnergies CAF Champions League 2024–2025
Tournament details
DatesQualification:
16 August – 22 September 2024
Competition proper:
26 November 2024 – May 2025
Teams59 (from 47 associations)
2025–26
(Note: All statistics do not include qualifying play-offs)

The 2024–25 CAF Champions League, officially the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons,[1] is the 61st season of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the 29th under the CAF Champions League title.

The winners of this edition of the competition will automatically qualify for the group stage of its next edition, earn the right to play against the winners of the 2024–25 CAF Confederation Cup in the 2025 CAF Super Cup and the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup.[2]

Association team allocation

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All 54 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to the CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition.[2] As a result, a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.

For this season's edition, CAF used the 2019–2024 CAF 5-year ranking, which calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs performance over the 5 years in the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The criteria for the points are as follows:[3][4][5]

CAF Champions League CAF Confederation Cup
Winners 6 points 5 points
Runners-up 5 points 4 points
Losing semi-finalists 4 points 3 points
Losing quarter-finalists 3 points 2 points
3rd place in groups 2 points 1 point
4th place in groups 1 point 0.5 point

The points were multiplied by a coefficient according to the season as follows:

  • 2023–24: × 5
  • 2022–23: × 4
  • 2021–22: × 3
  • 2020–21: × 2
  • 2019–20: × 1

Teams

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The following 59 teams from 47 associations entered the competition.

Associations are shown according to their CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score (in parentheses) indicated.

Associations eligible to enter two teams (Top 12 associations)
Association Rank (Pts) Team Qualifying method
 Egypt 1 (184) Al Ahly 2023–24 CAF Champions League champions
2023–24 Egyptian Premier League champions
Pyramids 2023–24 Egyptian Premier League runners-up
 Morocco 2 (148) Raja CA 2023–24 Botola champions
AS FAR 2023–24 Botola runners-up
 Algeria 3 (119) MC Alger 2023–24 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 champions
CR Belouizdad 2023–24 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up
 South Africa 4 (106) Mamelodi Sundowns 2023–24 South African Premier Division champions
Orlando Pirates 2023–24 South African Premier Division runners-up
 Tunisia 5 (97) Espérance de Tunis 2023–24 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 champions
US Monastir 2023–24 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up
 Tanzania 6 (71) Young Africans 2023–24 Tanzanian Premier League champions
Azam 2023–24 Tanzanian Premier League runners-up
 DR Congo 7 (54) TP Mazembe 2023–24 Linafoot champions
AS Maniema Union 2023–24 Linafoot runners-up
 Angola 8 (51.5) Petro de Luanda 2023–24 Girabola champions
Sagrada Esperança 2023–24 Girabola runners-up
 Sudan 9 (37) Al Hilal 2023–24 Sudan Premier League champions
Al Merrikh 2023–24 Sudan Premier League runners-up
 Libya 10 (35) Al Nasr 2023–24 Libyan Premier League champions[Note LBY]
Al Ahly Benghazi 2023–24 Libyan Premier League runners-up[Note LBY]
 Ivory Coast 11 (30.5) San Pédro 2023–24 Côte d'Ivoire Ligue 1 champions
Stade d'Abidjan 2023–24 Côte d'Ivoire Ligue 1 runners-up
 Nigeria 12 (25) Enugu Rangers 2023-24 Nigeria Premier Football League champions
Remo Stars 2023-24 Nigeria Premier Football League runners-up
Associations eligible to enter one team
Association Rank (Pts) Team Qualifying method
 Guinea 13 (20.5) Milo 2023–24 Guinée Championnat National champions
 Ghana 14 (20) Samartex 2023–24 Ghana Premier League champions
 Mali 15 (15) Djoliba 2023–24 Malian Première Division champions
 Cameroon 16 (11.5) Victoria United 2023–24 Elite One champions
 Mauritania 17 (10.5) FC Nouadhibou 2023–24 Super D1 champions
 Congo 18 (9.5) AC Léopards 2024 Congo Ligue 1 champions
 Botswana 19 (8) Jwaneng Galaxy 2023–24 Botswana Premier League champions
 Zambia 20 (7.5) Red Arrows 2023–24 Zambia Super League champions
 Senegal 21 (6) Teungueth 2023–24 Senegal Premier League champions
 Togo T-22 (4) ASKO Kara 2023–24 Togolese Championnat National champions
 Uganda T-22 (4) SC Villa 2023–24 Uganda Premier League champions
 Eswatini T-24 (1.5) Mbabane Swallows 2023–24 Eswatini Premier League champions
 Niger T-24 (1.5) AS GNN 2023–24 Niger Premier League champions
 Burkina Faso T-26 (1) AS Douanes 2023–24 Burkinabé Premier League champions
 Zimbabwe T-26 (1) Ngezi Platinum 2023 Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League champions
 Benin 28 (0.5) Coton FC 2023–24 Benin Premier League champions
 Burundi Vital'O 2023–24 Burundi Premier League champions
 Central African Republic Red Star de Bangui 2023–24 Central African Republic League runners-up
 Chad AS PSI 2024 Chad Premier League champions
 Comoros US Zilimadjou 2024 Comoros Premier League champions
 Djibouti Arta Solar 2023–24 Djibouti Premier League champions
 Equatorial Guinea Deportivo Mongomo 2023–24 Equatoguinean Primera División champions
 Ethiopia CBE 2023–24 Ethiopian Premier League champions
 Kenya Gor Mahia 2023–24 FKF Premier League champions
 Liberia Watanga 2023–24 Liberian First Division champions
 Madagascar Disciples FC 2023–24 Malagasy Pro League champions
 Malawi Nyasa Big Bullets 2023–24 Super League of Malawi champions
 Mozambique Ferroviário da Beira 2023 Moçambola champions
 Namibia African Stars 2023–24 Namibia Premier Football League champions
 Rwanda APR 2023–24 Rwanda Premier League champions
 Seychelles Saint Louis Suns United 2024 Seychelles Premier League champions
 Sierra Leone Bo Rangers 2024 Sierra Leone National Premier League champions
 Somalia Dekedaha 2023–24 Somali First Division champions
 South Sudan Al Merreikh Bentiu 2024 South Sudan Football Championship champions
 Zanzibar JKU 2023–24 Zanzibar Premier League champions
Associations which did not enter a team

Notes

  1. ^
    The Libyan Premier League was not finished by the CAF deadline for associations to submit teams participating in this season's CAF competitions. CAF approved a request made by the Libyan Football Federation to submit the names of participating teams in the competition following the end of the season by 22 July 2024, and as a result, Libyan teams were listed as Libya 1 and Libya 2 during the draw; as their identity was still unknown by the time of the draw.[6]

Schedule

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The schedule of the qualifying tournament is as follows.

Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Qualifying rounds First round 11 July 2024[7] 16–18 August 2024 23–25 August 2024
Second round 13–15 September 2024 20–22 September 2024
Group stage Matchday 1 7 October 2024 26–27 November 2024
Matchday 2 6–7 December 2024
Matchday 3 13–14 December 2024
Matchday 4 3–4 January 2025
Matchday 5 10–11 January 2025
Matchday 6 17–18 January 2025
Knockout stage Quarter-finals 2025 March 2025
Semi-finals April 2025
Final May 2025

Qualifying rounds

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The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 11 July 2024, 12:00 GMT (15:00 local time, UTC+3), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[8][9]

In the qualifying rounds, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still tied, extra time was not played, and a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).

First round

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Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
El Merriekh Bentiu South Sudan2–5Kenya Gor Mahia1–01–5
Arta Solar Djibouti4–5Somalia Dekedaha0–24–3
SC Villa Uganda2–3Ethiopia CBE1–21–1
Vital'O Burundi0–10Tanzania Young Africans0–40–6
Azam Tanzania1–2Rwanda APR1–00–2
JKU Zanzibar1–9Egypt Pyramids0–61–3
Mbabane Swallows Eswatini1–0Mozambique Ferroviário da Beira1–00–0
Ngezi Platinum Zimbabwe0–0 (3–4 p)Democratic Republic of the Congo AS Maniema Union0–00–0
Nyasa Big Bullets Malawi2–3Zambia Red Arrows2–10–2
African Stars Namibia1–1 (5–6 p)Botswana Jwaneng Galaxy1–00–1
Disciples FC Madagascar0–4South Africa Orlando Pirates0–00–4
US Zilimadjou Comoros1–2Nigeria Enugu Rangers0–11–1
Saint Louis Suns United Seychelles0–4Angola Sagrada Esperança0–10–3
AS Douanes Burkina Faso1–1 (a)Benin Coton FC0–01–1
AC Léopards Republic of the Congo0–3Algeria CR Belouizdad0–20–1
Victoria United Cameroon0–2Ghana Samartex0–10–1
AS GNN Niger1–7Morocco Raja CA1–20–5
AS PSI Chad0–3Tunisia US Monastir0–10–2
Watanga Liberia0–4Algeria MC Alger0–20–2
Red Star de Bangui Central African Republicw/o[A]Mali Djoliba0–0
Deportivo Mongomo Equatorial Guinea2–3Togo ASKO Kara2–20–1
Stade d'Abidjan Ivory Coast2–2 (5–4 p)Senegal Teungueth1–11–1
Milo Guinea1–1 (a)Mauritania FC Nouadhibou0–01–1
Bo Rangers Sierra Leone1–2Ivory Coast San Pédro1–10–1
Al Ahly Benghazi Libya1–2Sudan Al Hilal0–11–1
Al Nasr Libya0–2Sudan Al Merrikh0–00–2
Remo Stars Nigeria2–3Morocco AS FAR2–10–2

Notes:

  1. ^ Djoliba won on a walkover after Red Star de Bangui withdrew from the competition citing financial reasons.


Second round

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The 16 winners of the second round advanced to the group stage.

Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Gor Mahia Kenya0–6Egypt Al Ahly0–30–3
Dekedaha Somalia1–12Tunisia Espérance de Tunis1–40–8
CBE Ethiopia0–7Tanzania Young Africans0–10–6
APR Rwanda2–4Egypt Pyramids1–11–3
Mbabane Swallows Eswatini0–8South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns0–40–4
AS Maniema Union Democratic Republic of the Congo2–1Angola Petro de Luanda2–10–0
Red Arrows Zambia1–4Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe0–21–2
Jwaneng Galaxy Botswana0–3South Africa Orlando Pirates0–20–1
Enugu Rangers Nigeria2–3Angola Sagrada Esperança1–01–3
AS Douanes Burkina Faso1–1 (3–4 p)Algeria CR Belouizdad1–00–1
Samartex Ghana2–4Morocco Raja CA2–20–2
US Monastir Tunisia1–2Algeria MC Alger1–00–2
Djoliba Mali2–0Togo ASKO Kara1–01–0
Stade d'Abidjan Ivory Coast3–2Guinea Milo2–01–2
San Pédro Ivory Coast2–3Sudan Al Hilal2–20–1
Al Merrikh Sudan2–4Morocco AS FAR2–20–2

Group stage

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The draw for the group stage was held on 7 October 2024, 11:00 GMT (14:00 local time, UTC+3), in Cairo, Egypt.[10] The 16 winners of the second round of qualifying rounds were drawn into four groups of four.

The teams were seeded by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons (CAF 5-year ranking points shown next to every team). Each group contains one team from each of Pot 1, Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot 4, and each team were allocated to the positions in their group according to their pot.

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification TPM YNGA HIL MCA
1 Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage 13–14 Dec 17–18 Jan 26–27 Nov
2 Tanzania Young Africans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3–4 Jan 26–27 Nov 17–18 Jan
3 Sudan Al Hilal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6–7 Dec 10–11 Jan 3–4 Jan
4 Algeria MC Alger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10–11 Jan 6–7 Dec 13–14 Dec
First match(es) will be played: 26 or 27 November 2024. Source: CAF

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification SUN RCA FAR MUN
1 South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage 13–14 Dec 17–18 Jan 26–27 Nov
2 Morocco Raja CA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3–4 Jan 26–27 Nov 17–18 Jan
3 Morocco AS FAR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6–7 Dec 10–11 Jan 3–4 Jan
4 Democratic Republic of the Congo AS Maniema Union 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10–11 Jan 6–7 Dec 13–14 Dec
First match(es) will be played: 26 or 27 November 2024. Source: CAF

Group C

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification AHL CRB ORL SAB
1 Egypt Al Ahly 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage 13–14 Dec 17–18 Jan 26–27 Nov
2 Algeria CR Belouizdad 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3–4 Jan 26–27 Nov 17–18 Jan
3 South Africa Orlando Pirates 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6–7 Dec 10–11 Jan 3–4 Jan
4 Ivory Coast Stade d'Abidjan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10–11 Jan 6–7 Dec 13–14 Dec
First match(es) will be played: 26 or 27 November 2024. Source: CAF

Group D

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification EST PYR GDSE DAC
1 Tunisia Espérance de Tunis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage 13–14 Dec 17–18 Jan 26–27 Nov
2 Egypt Pyramids 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3–4 Jan 26–27 Nov 17–18 Jan
3 Angola Sagrada Esperança 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6–7 Dec 10–11 Jan 3–4 Jan
4 Mali Djoliba 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10–11 Jan 6–7 Dec 13–14 Dec
First match(es) will be played: 26 or 27 November 2024. Source: CAF

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Total, Title Sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations and Partner of African Football". TotalEnergies. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b "CAF Champions League regulations" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  3. ^ "16 Clubs for Group Phase of CC and CL effective 2017". CAFOnline.com. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  4. ^ "New adopted format for Club Competitions". CAFOnline.com. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  5. ^ "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.
  6. ^ "في الجول يكشف سبب عدم تواجد أسماء لفرق ليبية في قرعة دوري أبطال إفريقيا والكونفدرالية" [FilGoal reveals why Libyan teams were unnamed in CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup draw]. FilGoal (in Arabic). 11 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  7. ^ "CAF to conduct Preliminary Draw of 2024/25 CAF Interclub season on Thursday". CAFOnline.com. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  8. ^ "CAF to conduct Preliminary Draw of 2024/25 CAF Interclub season on Thursday". Confederation of African Football. 10 July 2024.
  9. ^ "New Champions League season kicks off with high-stakes preliminary round matches". Confederation of African Football. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  10. ^ "CAF announces TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage Draw Date". Confederation of African Football. 22 September 2023.
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