The CAF Champions League is an annual African football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football since 1964 for the best football clubs on the African continent, and it is the premier club football competition on the African continent. For sponsorship reasons, the official name of the tournament is the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League. It was previously known as the “African Cup of Champions Clubs” until its system was amended in 1997, and it became called by its current name.
This was a victory at Rades Stadium, with a brace from Mohamed Naji Gedo and Walid Suleiman, to crown Al-Ahly with its seventh title at that time. Al-Ahly continued its continental success, reaching the second consecutive final in 2013, in which it faced Orlando Pirates. Al-Ahly won the second cup in a row and the eighth in its history after winning (1-3) on aggregate. ES Setif won its second title in its history in the 2014 edition against Congolese Vita Club after 26 years of waiting. TP Mazembe won the 2015 edition, after beating Ittihad Algeria in the first leg (1-2) and back in Congo (2-0) to achieve its fifth title. Mamelodi Sundowns won the 2016 edition, after defeating Zamalek Club in the first leg (3-0), and despite losing the second leg (1-0), it was crowned with the first title of the competition in its history with the aggregate score of the two matches (3-1). After years of negative results on the continent, Wydad Athletic Club returns to the African front after an absence of 25 years, by winning the 2017 edition after tying with Al-Ahly club in the first leg (1-1) and winning in the return (1-0) on the field of Mohammed V Stadium, to win its second title in the tournament. Competition.
Esperance and continental supremacy
Mark Fish, side of the Championship Cup. Approximately 58 teams participate in the tournament, as the tournament includes the clubs that hold the league title in the African leagues, in addition to the general league runner-up from the best 12 clubs in the African club classification. The winner of the tournament earns the right to participate in the Club World Cup, a contested competition between the champion clubs from all continental confederations. The winner of the title also qualifies to face the CAF Confederation Cup champion in the CAF Super Cup the following season.
The Egyptian club Al-Ahly is the most successful club in the history of the competition, having won the championship 12 times, followed by Zamalek and TP Mazembe with 5 championships. Egyptian clubs achieved the largest number of titles, winning the title 18 times. It is noteworthy that the champion of the last edition for the year 2024 is the Egyptian club Al-Ahly, after its victory over Esperance of Tunisia in the return match, 1-0, after the first-leg result, which ended in a goalless draw, thus winning its twelfth title.
Tournament history
Mali's Salif Keita is the first top scorer in the tournament's history
Beginning with the African Cup of Champion Clubs in 1964, the first team to lift the trophy was Cameroon's Oryx Douala, who beat Stade Mali 2-1 in a one-match final. No tournament was played the following year, but was resumed again in 1966, when a two-legged final was first introduced, and saw another Malian team qualify for the final, Real Bamako against Stade Abidjan of Ivory Coast. Real Bamako won the first leg 3-1 but that was all trumped in the match away in Abidjan as the Ivorians went on to win 4-1 to win the title 5-4 on aggregate.
In 1969, the Egyptian Ismaily team was able to defeat TP Mazembe with a score of 5-3 goals and win the championship as the first Egyptian and Arab team to hold the championship.
In 1967 when Asante Kotoko of Ghana met TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, both matches ended in draws (1-1 and 2-2 respectively). The Confederation of African Football proposed a play-off, but the Ghanaians refused to compete and the title was handed to TP Mazembe, who claimed the title again the following year.
However, the Ghanaians got their revenge in 1970, when Asante Kotoko and TP Mazembe met again in the final. Once again, the first match ended in a 1-1 draw, but contrary to expectations, the Ghanaians managed to win 2-1 in their away match to lift the trophy that eluded them three years ago.
The 1970s saw a significant rise in Cameroonian club crowns, creating the platform for success that Cameroonian football enjoys at the international level today. Between 1971 and 1980, Cameroonian teams won the cup four times, with Canon Yaounde claiming three titles in 1971, 1978 and 1980. Union Douala lifting the trophy in 1979. In between Cameroonian victories, the honor was shared with another team enjoying a golden era, Guinean side Havia Conakry. He won it three times during this period in the 1972, 1975 and 1977 editions.
JS Kabylie of Algeria won the African Cup of Champion Clubs in 1990.
Raja, African champion 1999.
New Testament 1997
Aside from the introduction of the away goals rule of a winner-takes-all advantage for the team that scored goals away from home, not much changed in this competition until 1997. This year, CAF took a bold step to follow up on the lead established a few years earlier by UEFA by establishing a league stage in the tournament and changing the name to the CAF Champions League. CAF also offered cash prizes to participants for the first time. Offering prizes of US$1 million to the winners and US$750,000 to the runners-up, the new EFL Champions League has become the richest club competition in Africa.
The emergence of new clubs
Moroccan club Raja Casablanca won the first edition against Ghanaian Ashanti Gold. After reaching the semi-finals in the 1998 edition, the Greens won the title again in 1999 against Esperance de Tunis, and reached the first edition of the 2000 Club World Cup in Brazil. Not known until now, even in its country, Enyimba International appeared on the African scene and won two consecutive titles in the 2003 edition after defeating Ismaily (2-1) on aggregate, and the 2004 edition against Etoile Sportive du Sahel after a penalty shootout (5-3). Providing Nigeria with its first tournament in this competition.
Al-Ahly and Tunisian club
The joy of Al-Ahly fans after winning the 2005 edition.
In the period from 2005 to 2007, the finals were placed every time
Al-Ahly vs. a Tunisian club, where Al-Ahly met in the final of the 2005 edition of Etoile Sportive du Sahel. The two teams tied negatively (0-0) in the first leg, which was held on the field of the Olympic Stadium in Sousse. The second leg was played on the field of the Military College Stadium, and Al-Ahly was crowned with its fourth title after winning 3-0 ( 0–3), in the 2006 edition, Al-Ahly faced its counterpart, CS Sfaxien. The first leg ended in a positive draw (1–1) at Cairo International Stadium. The return match was held on the field of the Brades Olympic Stadium, witnessing Mohamed Aboutrika’s famous goal in the 90th minute. +2' The match ended with a goal to zero (0–1), after which Al-Ahly lifted its second title in a row and the fifth in its history, in a repeat of the 2005 edition final. Al-Ahly faced its counterpart, Etoile Sportive du Sahel, in the final of the 2007 edition. The first leg ended in a goalless draw between the two teams (0– 0) at the Olympic Stadium in Sousse. The return match, which was held on the grounds of the Cairo International Stadium, witnessed the revenge of Etoile Sportive du Sahel against Al-Ahly after defeating the latter by three goals to one (1-3). Etoile was crowned with its first title in the competition, thus putting an end to the drought. Since 1994, Tunisian clubs have failed to win the Champions League. Al-Ahly once again returned as champion of the continent, this time through the Cameroonian Cotton Gate, where it achieved the seventh title at that time, strengthening its record in the number of championships after beating the first leg at Cairo Stadium with two clean goals scored by defender Wael Gomaa and Angolan Flavio, and in the second leg, it tied with two goals. For every team at Garoua Stadium to bring back the African Princess.
Multiple heroes
The Esperance squad that won the title in 2011.
After its last coronation since 1994, Tunisian club Esperance returned to the African competition with three successive finals, but it lost the 2010 edition to TP Mazembe on aggregate (6-1) in the first leg at Frederic Kibasa Maliba Stadium with a score of (5-0), and tied in the match. The second leg, with a goal for the same, at the Stade Olympique de Brades, was crowned in the second consecutive final against Wydad in the 2011 edition after a positive draw in the first leg in Casablanca (1-1) and a victory in the second leg on the field of the Stade Olympique de Brades, with a goal to zero. Esperance lost the third final in the 2012 edition against Al Ahly after Positive draw in Cairo (1-1) Little
In this decade, it is considered the most successful African training for the CAF Champions League. By reaching the final of the prestigious African competition five times: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018 and 2019, Esperance de Tunis appears as the scarecrow of African football in this century. After defeating Al Ahly 3-0 in the final second leg of the 2018 African Championship, Tunisian club Esperance asserted its dominance in African football six months later, reaching the 2019 CAF Champions League final with a final victory in a 1-0 win over Wydad and retaining its title. Esperance de Tunis also contains statistics that confirm its dominance in African football without defeats in matches away from home and abroad in this edition of the 2019 CAF Champions League. The second leg of the 2019 final round was marked by strange events that went beyond the sporting framework when Wydad player Walid El Karti By scoring a goal that was disallowed due to offside, the match was stopped for about half an hour and officials took to the field, including the President of the Confederation of African Football, Ahmed Ahmed, the President of the Tunisian Football Federation, Wadih Al-Jari, and the President of Esperance de Tunis, Hamdi Meddeb. It became clear that the video assistant referee was not working. Esperance player Khalil Chammam also stated that referee Bakary Gassama told him and Wydad’s captain that the video assistant referee was not available. This was completely denied by Wydad’s captain, Abdellatif Nossair, and after consultations, the Confederation of African Football decided to declare Tunisian Esperance champions of Africa for the fourth time and the second time in history. straight.
Al-Ahly and African control
The last coronation for Al-Ahly was in the 2013 edition, and after two failed attempts in the 2017 and 2018 editions, Al-Ahly returned after an absence and faced its traditional rival, Zamalek, in an exciting final (the final of the century) between them in the 2019-20 edition, which ended with Al-Ahly defeating Zamalek 2-1, with a knockout by Mohamed Magdy Afsha. In the next edition (2020-21), Al-Ahly reached the final to meet Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa, with the Pharaohs winning 3-0 and winning the championship for the second time in a row. In the 2021-22 edition, Al-Ahly reached the final after knocking out Raja of Morocco and ES Setif of Algeria to face Wydad of Morocco. The Confederation of African Football had decided to hold the final in Morocco at the Mohammed V Complex Stadium, and Wydad won over Al-Ahly with a score of 2-0, with two goals by Zouhair El Metaraji, and in the 2022 edition - 23 Al-Ahly was threatened with exit from the group stage after losing to Mamelodi Sun Downs 5-2, but Al-Ahly was able to correct its mistakes and overcome Moroccan Raja and Tunisian club Esperance and reached the final to face Moroccan Wydad for the second time in a row. Al-Ahly was able to win the first leg 2-1 and tied. In the second leg 1-1 and won the championship for the eleventh time in its history. Then Al-Ahly came back again and defeated Esperance of Tunisia in the 2024 final in Cairo with a score of 1-0, even though they tied with them in the first leg 0-0, to win their 12th title and confirm their absolute dominance over the continent.
Championship cups
The first cup bearing the logo of the Continental Club Championship appeared during the African Club Cup in 1964 under the name “Kwame Nkrumah” in honor of the late Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah after the Guinean team, Havia Conakry, was on the throne of the most crowned clubs three times during (1972, 1975 and 1977). Then, Guinean President Ahmed Sekou Toure presented a new cup, which was kept by the Egyptian club Zamalek, which was the most successful team to win the title three times during (1984, 1986 and 1993).
Since 1994, the Confederation of African Football has introduced a new cup; It is designed with a wooden base topped with a double base interspersed with rings designed in the shape of a pyramid with a silver ball on top. And celebrate
The Egyptian Al-Ahly club won it three times (2001, 2005 and 2006). The cup was changed in 2007, and Al-Ahly also kept this cup after winning it in the years (2008, 2012 and 2013). The Confederation of African Football chose a new design in the form of a golden balloon surrounded by silver arms. It was modified slightly in 2014, adding an amount of metal to the bottom of the base and reducing the shine of the golden ball. The Egyptian Al-Ahly Club was the most successful club in the last three editions. Years (2020, 2021, then 2023).