| 2015Orange CAF Champions League | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 13 February – 8 November 2015 |
| Teams | 57 (from 44 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  TP Mazembe (5th title) |
| Runners-up |  USM Alger |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 126 |
| Goals scored | 268 (2.13 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Bakri Al-Madina Mbwana Samatta(7 goals each) |
←2014 2016 → | |
The2015 CAF Champions League (officially the2015 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st edition ofAfrica's premier clubfootball tournament organized by theConfederation of African Football (CAF), and the 19th edition under the currentCAF Champions League format. The winner qualified for the2015 FIFA Club World Cup, and earned the right to play in the2016 CAF Super Cup.[1]
TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo won the competition for the fifth time in their history after a 4–1 aggregate victory overUSM Alger of Algeria in thefinal.[2]ES Sétif were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.
All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to theirCAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition. The title holders can also enter.[1] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 69 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2015 CAF Champions League, the CAF uses the 2009–2013CAF 5-year ranking, which calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs’ performance over those 5 years in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup. The criteria for points are the following:[3]
| CAF Champions League | CAF Confederation Cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | 5 points | 4 points |
| Runner-up | 4 points | 3 points |
| Losing semi-finalists | 3 points | 2 points |
| 3rd place in groups | 2 points | 1 point |
| 4th place in groups | 1 point | 1 point |
The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
The following 57 teams from 44 associations entered the competition.
Teams inbold received a bye to thefirst round. The other teams entered thepreliminary round.
Associations are shown according to their2009–2013 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.[4]
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws are held at the CAF headquarters inCairo,Egypt).[12]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | 22 December 2014[13] | 13–15 February 2015 | 27 February–1 March 2015 |
| First round | 13–15 March 2015 | 3–5 April 2015 | ||
| Second round | 17–19 April 2015 | 1–3 May 2015 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 5 May 2015[14] | 26–28 June 2015 | |
| Matchday 2 | 10–12 July 2015 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 24–26 July 2015 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 7–9 August 2015 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 21–23 August 2015 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 11–13 September 2015 | |||
| Knockout stage | Semi-finals | 25–27 September 2015 | 2–4 October 2015 | |
| Final | 30 October–1 November 2015 | 6–8 November 2015 | ||
The draw for the preliminary, first and second qualifying rounds was held on 22 December 2014.[15]
Qualification ties were played on a home-and-awaytwo-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, theaway goals rule would be applied, and if still level, thepenalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (noextra time would be played).[1]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USM Alger | 3–2 |  AS Kaloum | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| SM Sanga Balende | 0–2 | Al-Hilal | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Al-Merrikh | 2–2 (a) |  Espérance de Tunis | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| MC El Eulma | 1–1 (7–6p) | CS Sfaxien | 1–0 | 0–1 |
AC Léopards | 1–2 |  Smouha | 1–0 | 0–2 |
Moghreb Tétouan | 1–1 (4–3p) | Al-Ahly | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Raja Casablanca | 4–4 (1–4p) | ES Sétif | 2–2 | 2–2 |
Stade Malien | 3–4 | TP Mazembe | 2–2 | 1–2 |
The losers of the second round entered the2015 CAF Confederation Cup play-off round.
The draw for the group stage was held on 5 May 2015, 11:00UTC+2, at the CAF headquarters inCairo,Egypt.[17][18] The eight winners of thesecond round were drawn into two groups of four. Each group contained one team from Pot 1, one team from Pot 2, and two teams from Pot 3.[19] The seeding of each team was determined by theirranking points calculated based on performances in continental club championships for the period 2010–2014.
The following eight teams were entered into the draw:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Each group was played on a home-and-awayround-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to thesemi-finals.
| Tiebreakers |
|---|
The teams were ranked according topoints (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:[1]
|
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | TPM | HIL | MAT | SMO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TP Mazembe | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 11 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 0–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Al-Hilal | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 9 | 1–0 | — | 0–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | Moghreb Tétouan | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 8 | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Smouha | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | USM | MER | ESS | MCE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USM Alger | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 15 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | |
| 2 | Al-Merrikh | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 13 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | ES Sétif | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 5 | 1–2 | 1–1 | — | 2–2 | ||
| 4 | MC El Eulma | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 11 | −6 | 1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | — |
Knockout ties were played on a home-and-awaytwo-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, theaway goals rule would be applied, and if still level, thepenalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (noextra time would be played).[1]
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Al-Hilal | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 4 | USM Alger | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||
| USM Alger | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| TP Mazembe | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Al-Merrikh | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||
| 2 | TP Mazembe | 1 | 3 | 4 | |||||||||
In the semi-finals, the group A winners played the group B runners-up, and the group B winners played the group A runners-up, with the group winners hosting the second leg.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Merrikh | 2–4 | TP Mazembe | 2–1 | 0–3 |
| Al-Hilal | 1–2 | USM Alger | 1–2 | 0–0 |
In the final, the order of legs was determined by a draw, held after the group stage draw.
