The 2020–21 CAF Champions League (officially the 2020–21 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 57th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 25th edition under the current CAF Champions League title.
Al Ahly successfully defended their title and defeated Kaizer Chiefs 3–0 in the final, which was played at Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, Morocco, winning their record-extending tenth and second consecutive title.
All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition.[2] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2020–21 CAF Champions League, the CAF uses the 2016–2020 CAF 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][4][5]
The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
2019–20: × 5
2018–19: × 4
2018: × 3
2017: × 2
2016: × 1
Teams
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, associations may abandon their domestic competitions and select the representatives in CAF club competitions.[6] Associations may register their representatives during the engagement window between 1 September and 20 October 2020. All engaged teams must respect the Club Licensing procedure and cooperate with their respective Associations, as non-licensed clubs would be refused participation.[7]
The following 54 teams from 42 associations entered the competition.
Associations are shown according to their 2016–2020 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score (in parentheses) indicated.
Associations eligible to enter two teams (Top 12 associations)
Location of teams of the 2020–21 CAF Champions League. Red: Preliminary round; Green: First Round; Brown: Group A; Orange: Group B; Yellow: Group C; Blue: Group D.
Schedule
The start of the competition was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 1 September 2020, the CAF announced the new schedule.[7][41] On 10 September 2020, the CAF decided to further delay the preliminary round, originally scheduled for 20–22 November (first legs) and 28–29 November (second legs), and the first round, originally scheduled for 11–13 December (first legs) and 18–20 December (second legs).[42]
Schedule for 2020–21 CAF Champions League
Phase
Round
Draw date
First leg
Second leg
Qualifying
Preliminary round
9 November 2020
28–29 November 2020
4–5 December 2020
First round
22–23 December 2020
5–6 January 2021
Group stage
Matchday 1
8 January 2021
12–13 February 2021
Matchday 2
23–24 February 2021
Matchday 3
5–6 March 2021
Matchday 4
16–17 March 2021
Matchday 5
2–3 April 2021
Matchday 6
9–10 April 2021
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
30 April 2021
14–15 May 2021
21–22 May 2021
Semi-finals
18–19 June 2021
25–26 June 2021
Final
17 July 2021
The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows.[43]
Original schedule for 2020–21 CAF Champions League
The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 9 November 2020 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[44][45]
In the qualifying rounds, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).[2]
^The preliminary round second leg match between Ashanti de Siguiri and Stade Malien could not be played after 4 of the 17 players from Ashanti de Siguiri tested positive for COVID-19. Thus, Ashanti de Siguiri were not able to name the required 15 players for holding the match, and subsequently, Stade Malien were awarded a technical 2–0 victory for the second leg by CAF in accordance with the regulations related to COVID-19.[46][47]
^Al Ahly Benghazi won on walkover after Mekelle 70 Enderta were not able to present themselves with 15 players (including 1 goalkeeper) for the first leg in Cairo citing the Tigray conflict.[48][49]
^Gazelle won on walkover after GR/SIAF failed to appear for the first leg in N'Djamena.[50][51]
^The preliminary round second leg match between FC Nouadhibou and Asante Kotoko could not be played after 2 of the 16 players from FC Nouadhibou tested positive for COVID-19. Thus, FC Nouadhibou were not able to name the required 15 players for holding the match, and subsequently, Asante Kotoko were awarded a technical 2–0 victory for the second leg by CAF in accordance with the regulations related to COVID-19.[52][53]
^Gazelle failed to appear for the first leg in Cairo following disputes between the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the country and the Chadian Football Federation, which prevented the club from traveling to Egypt. As a result, Gazelle were disqualified from the competition by CAF, and Zamalek won on walkover.[54][55]
^The first round second leg match between Asante Kotoko and Al Hilal could not be played after 7 players from Asante Kotoko tested positive for COVID-19. Thus, Asante Kotoko were not able to name the required 15 players for holding the match, and subsequently, Al Hilal were awarded a technical 2–0 victory for the second leg by CAF in accordance with the regulations related to COVID-19.[56][57]
The draw for the group stage was held on 8 January 2021, 12:30 GMT (14:30 local time, UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[58][59] The 16 teams, all winners of the first round of qualifying, 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 allocated to the positions in their group according to their pot.[60][61]
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (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):[2]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:
In the draw for the quarter-finals, the four group winners are seeded, and the four group runners-up are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group cannot be drawn against each other, while teams from the same association can be drawn against each other.
In the draws for semi-finals, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association can be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals are held together before the quarter-finals are played, the identity of the quarter-final winners is not known at the time of the semi-final draw.
Bracket
The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals and semi-finals), which was held on 30 April 2021, 15:00 CAT (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[62][63]
Belouizdad
MC Alger
Al Ahly
Raja Casablanca
Wydad AC
1º de Agosto
