| 2019–20Total CAF Champions League | |
|---|---|
 Cairo International Stadium inCairo, Egypt, hosted the final | |
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | Qualifying: 9 August – 29 September 2019 Competition proper: 29 November 2019 – 27 November 2020 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 16 Total: 61 (from 49 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Al-Ahly (9th title) |
| Runners-up | Zamalek |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 61 |
| Goals scored | 131 (2.15 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Jackson Muleka(7 goals) |
2020–21 → | |
The2019–20 CAF Champions League (officially the2019–20 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 56th edition ofAfrica's premier clubfootball tournament organized by theConfederation of African Football (CAF), and the 24th edition under the currentCAF Champions League title.
This season was to be the first to follow an August–to-May schedule, as per the decision of the CAF Executive Committee on 20 July 2017.[2] However, theCOVID-19 pandemic caused the semi-finals and final of the competition to bepostponed until October and November 2020. Moreover, for the first time, thefinal was played as a single match at a venue pre-selected by CAF,[3] and was originally to be played at theJapoma Stadium inDouala, Cameroon.[4] However, during the suspension of the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cameroon decided to withdraw from hosting, and instead, the final was played in Egypt, at theCairo International Stadium inCairo.
Ahly won a record-extending 9th title, defeating fellow Egyptian rivalsZamalek 2–1 in thefinal.[5]
As winners of the 2019–20 CAF Champions League, Ahly qualified for the2020 FIFA Club World Cup inQatar, and earned the right to play against the winners of the2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup in the2020–21 CAF Super Cup.[6]
This was the first time in the history of the CAF Champions League that the final was contested between two clubs from the same country.
All 56CAF 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.[6] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2019–20 CAF Champions League, the CAF uses the 2015–2019CAF 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:[7][8][9]
| 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 (from 2017) | 3 points | 2 points |
| 3rd place in groups | 2 points | 1 point |
| 4th place in groups | 1 point | 0.5 point |
The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
This was announced by the CAF on 4 June 2019, as using the previous scheme, it would be based on results from 2014 to 2018. The only change for the top 12 associations is that Tanzania is included while Ivory Coast is excluded.[10][11]
The following 61 teams from 49 associations entered the competition.
Associations are shown according to their2015–2019 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
Al-Ahly
Zamalek
Wydad
RajaMamelodi Sundowns
Orlando Pirates1º de AgostoPetro de Luanda Red: Preliminary round;
Green: First Round; Brown: Group A; Orange: Group B; Yellow: Group C; Blue: Group D.The schedule of the competition is as follows.[12]
On 24 November 2019, CAF made a change to all fixtures dates starting from the group stage matchday 4 to the final, due to rescheduling of the2020 African Nations Championship from January/February to April. The quarter-finals draw date was also changed.[13]
Following the quarter-finals, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Africa, the semi-finals, originally scheduled for 1–2 May (first legs) and 8–9 May (second legs), were postponed indefinitely on 11 April 2020,[14] and the final, originally scheduled for 29 May, was also postponed on 18 April 2020.[15] On 30 June 2020, the CAF Executive Committee proposed that the competition would resume with a Final Four format played as single matches in a host country to be decided.[16] However, these plans were later halted after theCameroonian Football Federation withdrew from hosting the Final Four, and the CAF decided against hosting it in either Egypt or Morocco in the principle of fairness. On 3 August 2020, the CAF announced that the competition would resume in its original format with the semi-finals played on 25–26 September (first legs) and 2–3 October (second legs), and the final played on 16 or 17 October.[17] On 10 September 2020, the CAF announced that at the request of theRoyal Moroccan Football Federation, the semi-finals were rescheduled to 17–18 October (first legs) and 23–24 October (second legs), and the final to 6 November.[18] On 22 October 2020, the CAF announced that the semi-final second leg betweenZamalek andRaja Casablanca, originally scheduled to be played on 24 October, was postponed to 1 November, due to Raja Casablanca being required by Moroccan authorities to self-isolate until 27 October after eight players testing positive for theCOVID-19 virus, with the total number of cases increasing to fourteen the following day.[19] On 30 October 2020, the CAF announced that this match was further postponed to 4 November, the final postponed to 27 November.[20]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | 21 July 2019 | 9–11 August 2019 | 23–25 August 2019 |
| First round | 13–15 September 2019 | 27–29 September 2019 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 9 October 2019 | 29–30 November 2019 | |
| Matchday 2 | 6–7 December 2019 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 27–28 December 2019 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 10–11 January 2020 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 24–25 January 2020 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 31 January – 1 February 2020 | |||
| Knockout stage | Quarter-finals | 5 February 2020 | 28–29 February 2020 | 6–7 March 2020 |
| Semi-finals | 17–18 October 2020 | 23 October & 4 November 2020 | ||
| Final | 27 November 2020 | |||
The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 21 July 2019 at the CAF headquarters inCairo,Egypt.[21][22]
In the qualifying rounds, each tie was played on a home-and-awaytwo-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, theaway goals rule was applied, and if still tied,extra time was not played, and thepenalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).[6]
The 16 winners of the first round advanced to thegroup stage, while the 16 losers of the first round entered theConfederation Cup play-off round.
The draw for the group stage was held on 9 October 2019, 20:00CAT (UTC+2), at the Hilton Pyramids Golf inCairo,Egypt.[23] The 16 teams, all winners of thefirst round ofqualifying, 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 in parentheses). Each group contained one team from each of Pot 1, Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot 4, and each team was drawn into one of the positions in their group.[24]
| Pot | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams |
|
|
|
|
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in around-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to thequarter-finals of theknockout stage.
| Tiebreakers |
|---|
Teams are ranked according topoints (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order (Regulations III. 20 & 21):[6]
|
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | TPM | ZAM | AGO | ZES | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TP Mazembe | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 14 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | |
| 2 | Zamalek | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 9 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 |  1º de Agosto | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 4 |  ZESCO United | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ESS | AHL | HIL | PLA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Étoile du Sahel | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 12 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | Al-Ahly | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 11 | 1–0 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 |  Al-Hilal | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 10 | 1–2 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 |  FC Platinum | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MSD | WAC | PET | USM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Mamelodi Sundowns | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 14 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | |
| 2 |  Wydad AC | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 9 | 0–0 | — | 4–1 | 3–1 | ||
| 3 | Petro de Luanda | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 14 | −6 | 4 | 2–2 | 2–2 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 4 |  USM Alger | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | EST | RCA | JSK | VIT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Espérance de Tunis | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 11[a] | Advance toknockout stage | — | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | |
| 2 | Raja Casablanca | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 11[a] | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | JS Kabylie | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 7 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | AS Vita Club | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 4 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 4–1 | — |
In theknockout stage, the quarter-finals and semi-finals were played overtwo legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, theaway goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, thenextra time was not played and the winners were decided by apenalty shoot-out.
In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was also not to be played and the winners would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[6]
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals and semi-finals), which was held on 5 February 2020, 20:00CAT (UTC+2), at the Hilton Pyramids Golf inCairo,Egypt.[25][26]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||||
| Raja Casablanca | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||||||
| TP Mazembe | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Raja Casablanca | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Zamalek | 1 | 3 | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Zamalek | 3 | 0 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Espérance de Tunis | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Zamalek | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Al-Ahly | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Wydad AC | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Étoile du Sahel | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Wydad AC | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Al-Ahly | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Al-Ahly | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Mamelodi Sundowns | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Ahly | 3–1 | Mamelodi Sundowns | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Raja Casablanca | 2–1 | TP Mazembe | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Zamalek | 3–2 | Espérance de Tunis | 3–1 | 0–1 |
| Wydad AC | 2–1 | Étoile du Sahel | 2–0 | 0–1 |
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Africa, all semi-final matches, originally scheduled for 1–2 May (first legs) and 8–9 May 2020 (second legs), were postponed.[14] The matches were later rescheduled for 17–18 October (first legs) and 23 October and 4 November 2020 (second legs).[18][20]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raja Casablanca | 1–4 | Zamalek | 0–1 | 1–3 |
| Wydad AC | 1–5 | Al-Ahly | 0–2 | 1–3 |
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Africa, the final, originally scheduled for 29 May 2020, 20:00WAT, at theJapoma Stadium,Douala, Cameroon, was postponed until further notice.[4][15] In July, theCameroonian Football Federation announced that they had withdrawn from hosting the final.[27] The CAF decided that the final would be played in Egypt if both semi-finalists from Egypt,Al-Ahly andZamalek, reached the final, or in Morocco if both semi-finalists from Morocco,Raja Casablanca andWydad Casablanca, reached the final. If one team from Egypt and one team from Morocco reached the final, it was initially decided that the final would be played in a neutral country,[17] but it was later decided that the final would then be played in either Egypt or Morocco, to be decided by a draw, which was held on 16 October 2020 inCasablanca, Morocco prior to the semi-final first legs, and the country drawn was Egypt.[28]
Since both finalists were from Egypt, the match was played in Egypt, at theCairo International Stadium,Cairo on 27 November 2020.[20]
| Rank | Player | Team | MD1 | MD2 | MD3 | MD4 | MD5 | MD6 | QF1 | QF2 | SF1 | SF2 | F | Total[30] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jackson Muleka | TP Mazembe | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |||||||
| 2 | Achraf Bencharki | Zamalek | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||||||
| 3 | Karim Aribi | Étoile du Sahel | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| Mostafa Mohamed | Zamalek | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Badr Banoun | Raja Casablanca | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Mohamed Eldai | Al-Hilal | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Ayoub El Kaabi | Wydad AC | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Winston Kalengo | ZESCO United | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Ali Maâloul | Al-Ahly | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Mabululu | 1º de Agosto | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Mohamed Magdy | Al-Ahly | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Ben Malango | Raja Casablanca | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
 Toni | Petro de Luanda | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
