The CAF Champions League is Africa’s most prestigious club competition. It is organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) every season. The competition was found in 1964 under the name African Cup of Champions Clubs. Oryx Douala of Cameroon won the trophy for the first time by defeating Stade Malien of Mali by 2-1 at the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana. The competition is opened to all member associations of CAF unless an association declines to present a team for the competition. The CAF Champions League is the equivalent of the UEFA Champions League in Europe. In 1997 the name and format of the then African Cup of Champions Clubs changed to the CAF Champions League. Raja Casablanca of Morocco won 5–4 on penalties in a two-leg game which ended 1-1 on aggregate against Obuasi Goldfields from Ghana.
TP Mazembe of Congo DR are the current champions with Al-Ahly of Egypt being the most successful club in the CAF Champions league.
Here are all the winners of the CAF Champions League:
Al-Ahly (Egypt) 8 times (1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013)
TP Mazembe (Congo DR) 5 times (1967, 1968, 2009, 2010, 2015)
Zamalek (Egypt) 5 times (1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002)
Hafia FC (Guinea) 3 times (1972, 1975, 1977)
Raja Casablanca (Morocco) 3 times (1989, 1997, 1999)
Canon Yaoundé (Cameroon) 3 times (1971, 1978, 1980)
Asante Kotoko (Ghana) 2 times (1970, 1983)
Espérance de Tunis (Tunisia) 2 times (1994, 2011)
JS Kabylie (Algeria) 2 times (1981, 1990)
ES Sétif (Algeria) 2 times (1988, 2014)
Enyimba (Nigeria) 2 times (2003, 2004)
All the following teams have won it the trophy once:
Hearts of Oak (Ghana) 2000
Étoile du Sahel (Tunisia) 2007
Vita Club (Congo DR) 1973
Ismaily (Egypt) 1969
Wydad Casablanca (Morocco) 1992
Orlando Pirates (South Africa) 1995
ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast) 1998
Oryx Douala (Cameroon) 1965
Stade d’Abidjan (Ivory Coast) 1966
CARA Brazzaville (Congo) 1974
MC Alger (Algeria) 1976
Union Douala (Cameroon) 1979
FAR Rabat (Morocco) 1985
Club Africain (Tunisia) 1991
The 52nd edition of the CAF Champions league, which for sponsorship reasons is called the Orange CAF Champions League, started on February 12th, 2016 with 55 teams from 43 associations. The competition has reached the second round qualifying stage with 16 teams left so far.
Here are the fixtures of the second leg matches of the second round qualifying stage:
April 19, 2016 ES Sétif (Algeria) vs. Al-Merrikh (Sudan), 1st leg (2-2)
April 19, 2016 ZESCO United (Zambia) vs. Stade Malien (Mali), 1st leg (3-1)
19 April 19, 2016 MO Béjaïa (Algeria) vs. Zamalek (Egypt), 1st leg (0-2)
April 20, 2016 Al-Ahli Tripoli (Libya) vs. ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast), 1st leg (0-2)
April 20, 2016 Al-Ahly (Egypt) vs. Young Africans (Tanzania), 1st leg (1-1)
April 20, 2016 Étoile du Sahel (Tunisia) vs. Enyimba (Nigeria), 1st leg (0-3)
April 20, 2016 TP Mazembe (Congo DR) vs. Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), 1st leg (0-2)
April 20, 2016 Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) vs. AS Vita Club (Congo DR), 1st leg (0-1)
The eight qualifying teams will enter the group stages of the CAF Champions League. There will be two groups which will be drawn on May 24, 2016 in Cairo, Egypt at the head office of CAF. The matches of the group stages will begin on June 17th and end on August 24th. The two qualified teams from each group will proceed to the semifinals which will be played on the September 16-18, 2016 and the second leg September 23-25, 2016. The finals of the 2016 Orange CAF Champions league will be played on October 14-16, 2016 and the return encounter will be played on October 21-23, 2016. The top scorer of the competition so far is Mfon Udoh of Enyimba (Nigeria) with seven goals. There have been 81 matches played in all with 180 goals recorded, an average of 2.22 goals per game.
The winner of the 2016 Orange CAF Champions league will get US $1,500,000. The runner-up will get US$1,000,000. The semifinalists will get US $700,000. The 3rd placed teams in the group stages will get US$500,000 each and the 4th placed teams in the group stages will get US $400,000. The winner gets the chance to take part in the CAF Super Cup and also gets the chance to represent Africa at the FIFA Club World Cup.
