| 2016Orange CAF Champions League | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 12 February – 23 October 2016 |
| Teams | 55 (from 43 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Mamelodi Sundowns (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Zamalek |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 114 |
| Goals scored | 261 (2.29 per match) |
| Top scorer |  Mfon Udoh(9 goals) |
←2015 2017 → | |
The2016 CAF Champions League (officially the2016 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition ofAfrica's premier clubfootball tournament organized by theConfederation of African Football (CAF), and the 20th edition under the currentCAF Champions League format.
Mamelodi Sundowns defeatedZamalek in thefinal to win their first CAF Champions League title, and qualified as the CAF representative at the2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, theirfirst appearance in theFIFA Club World Cup,[1] and also earned the right to play against the winners of the2016 CAF Confederation Cup in the2017 CAF Super Cup.[2]TP Mazembe were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the second round. As of 2023, this is the most recent edition of the tournament won by a team from a non-Arab country.
All 56CAF member associations might 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 could also enter.[2] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 69 teams could enter the tournament – although this level had never been reached.
For the 2016 CAF Champions League, the CAF used the 2010–2014CAF 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 55 teams from 43 associations entered the competition.
Teams inbold received a bye to thefirst round. The other teams entered thepreliminary round.
Associations are shown according to their2010–2014 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[4] For the first time, some rounds of matches were officially scheduled in midweek (initalics) instead of on weekends.[5]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | 11 December 2015 (Dakar,Senegal)[6] | 12–14 February 2016 | 26–28 February 2016 |
| First round | 11–13 March 2016 | 18–20 March 2016 | ||
| Second round | 8–10 April 2016 | 19–20 April 2016 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 24 May 2016 (Cairo,Egypt)[7] | 17–19 June 2016 | |
| Matchday 2 | 28–29 June 2016 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 15–17 July 2016 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 26–27 July 2016 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 12–14 August 2016 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 23–24 August 2016 | |||
| Knockout stage | Semi-finals | 16–18 September 2016 | 23–25 September 2016 | |
| Final | 14–16 October 2016 | 21–23 October 2016 | ||
The draw for the preliminary, first and second rounds was held on 11 December 2015 inDakar,Senegal.[6][8]
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 would be applied, and if still tied,extra time would not be played, and thepenalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).[2]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
AS Vita Club | 2–2 (a) d/q;w/o[D] | Mamelodi Sundowns | 1–0 | 1–2 |
Al-Merrikh | 2–2 (a) |  ES Sétif | 2–2 | 0–0 |
Wydad AC | 3–1 | TP Mazembe | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Enyimba | 3–3 (4–3p) |  Étoile du Sahel | 3–0 | 0–3 |
Stade Malien | 2–5 |  ZESCO United | 1–3 | 1–2 |
Young Africans | 2–3 | Al-Ahly | 1–1 | 1–2 |
ASEC Mimosas | 3–2 |  Al-Ahli Tripoli | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Zamalek | 3–1 | MO Béjaïa | 2–0 | 1–1 |
The eight winners of the second round advanced to thegroup stage, while the eight losers of the second round entered theConfederation Cup play-off round.
The draw for the group stage was held on 24 May 2016, 14:30EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters inCairo,Egypt.[7][13] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four.
In the group stage, 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 (Regulations III. 20 & 21):[2]
|
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | WAC | ZES | AHL | MIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wydad AC | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 11 | Knockout stage | — | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | |
| 2 | ZESCO United | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 9 | 1–1 | — | 3–2 | 3–1 | ||
| 3 | Al Ahly | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 6 | 0–0 | 2–2 | — | 1–2 | ||
| 4 | ASEC Mimosas | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 5 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MSD | ZAM | ENY | ESS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mamelodi Sundowns | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 9 | Knockout stage | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | — | |
| 2 | Zamalek | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | — | ||
| 3 | Enyimba | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | 3–1 | 0–1 | — | — | ||
| 4 | ES Sétif | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Disqualified[a] | — | — | — |
In the knockout stage, the four teams played asingle-elimination tournament. Each tie was 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 tied,extra time would not be played, and thepenalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 26 & 27).[2]
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | ZESCO United | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||
| 4 | Mamelodi Sundowns | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Mamelodi Sundowns | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Zamalek | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Zamalek | 4 | 2 | 6 | |||||||||
| 2 | Wydad AC | 0 | 5 | 5 | |||||||||
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zamalek | 6–5 | Wydad AC | 4–0 | 2–5 |
| ZESCO United | 2–3 | Mamelodi Sundowns | 2–1 | 0–2 |
In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the order of legs decided by an additional draw held after the group stage draw.[13]
Mamelodi Sundowns won 3–1 on aggregate.
