2022–23 CAF Champions League
International football competition
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The 2022–23 CAF Champions League (officially the 2022–23 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League for sponsorship purposes)[1] was the 59th season of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the 27th under the current CAF Champions League title.
10 September – 20 October 2022
- Main Phase:
- 10 February – 11 June 2023
Total: 58 (from 46 associations)
Al Ahly (11th title)
Wydad AC| 2022–23 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League | |
|---|---|
Stade Mohammed V hosted the podium where Al Ahly lifted the trophy | |
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | Qualification: 10 September – 20 October 2022
|
| Teams | Main Competition: 16 Total: 58 (from 46 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Al Ahly (11th title) |
| Runners-up | Wydad AC |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 62 |
| Goals scored | 136 (2.19 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Mahmoud Kahraba Peter Shalulile(6 goals each) |
← 2021–22 2023–24 →
(Note: All statistics do not include qualifying play-offs) | |
Unlike the last three seasons, the final of this edition was played in a two-legged format as per the decision of CAF at the executive committee meeting on July 3 at Rabat, arising from a formal complaint made by Al Ahly to CAF over the choice of Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca as the venue for the 2022 final: despite the intention that the final be played at a neutral venue, the 2022 tournament culminated with the stadium being the home venue of their opponent, Wydad AC.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
The winners, Al Ahly for the record-extending 11th title, automatically qualified for the 2023–24 CAF Champions League and earned the right to play against the winners of the 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup in the 2023 CAF Super Cup along with the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.[8]
Wydad AC were the defending champions, but they lost the final against Al Ahly.
Association team allocation
A total of 46 out of the 56 CAF member associations entered this season's CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in this season.[8] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For this season of the tournament, CAF used the 2018–2022 CAF 5-year ranking, which calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs’ performance over those 5 years in CAF club competitions. The criteria for points are as follows:[9][10][11]
| 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 | 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:
- 2021–22: x 5
- 2020–21: × 4
- 2019–20: × 3
- 2018–19: × 2
- 2018: × 1
Teams
The following 58 teams from 46 associations participated in this edition of the competition.
- Teams in bold received a bye to the second round.
- The other teams entered the first round.
Associations are shown according to their 2018–2022 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score (in parentheses) indicated.
- Associations which did not enter a team
Notes:
- ^ Egypt (EGY):The 2021–22 Egyptian Premier League was not finished by the CAF deadline. As a result, the Egyptian Football Association announced that Zamalek and Al Ahly, who were at first and second place after 24 rounds respectively, represented Egypt in the 2022–23 CAF Champions League. Meanwhile, Future and Pyramids FC, who were at third and fourth place after 24 rounds respectively, represented Egypt in the 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup.
Schedule
The official competition schedule was released on 24 June 2022 on their website to prepare the qualified teams for the upcoming season.[12]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying rounds | First round | 9 August 2022 | 9–11 September 2022 | 16–18 September 2022 |
| Second round | 7–9 October 2022 | 14–16 October 2022 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 12 December 2022 | 10–11 February 2023 | |
| Matchday 2 | 17–18 February 2023 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 24–25 February 2023 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 7–11 March 2023 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 17–18 March 2023 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 31 March – 1 April 2023 | |||
| Knockout stage | Quarter-finals | 5 April 2023 | 21–22 April 2023 | 28–29 April 2023 |
| Semi-finals | 12–13 May 2023 | 19–20 May 2023 | ||
| Final | 4 June 2023 | 11 June 2023 | ||
Qualifying rounds
The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 9 August 2022 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[13][14][15] 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 was applied, and if still tied, extra time was not played, and the penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).
First round
Notes:
Second round
The 16 winners of the second round advanced to the group stage, while the 16 losers of the second round entered the CAF Confederation Cup playoff round.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Rivers United  |
2–7 | Wydad AC |
2–1 | 0–6 |
| Plateau United |
2–2 (a) |  Espérance de Tunis |
2–1 | 0–1 |
ASN Nigelec  |
0–3 | Raja CA |
0–2 | 0–1 |
| Union Monastirienne |
0–4 | Al Ahly |
0–1 | 0–3 |
Vipers  |
0–0 (4–2 p) |  TP Mazembe |
0–0 | 0–0 |
La Passe  |
1–15 |  Mamelodi Sundowns |
0–7 | 1–8 |
ASEC Mimosas  |
1–2 |  Horoya |
0–1 | 1–1 |
ASKO Kara  |
2–3 |  JS Kabylie |
1–2 | 1–1 |
Djoliba  |
2–3 | CR Belouizdad |
2–1 | 0–2 |
Young Africans  |
1–2 |  Al Hilal |
1–1 | 0–1 |
| Al Merrikh |
3–3 (a) |  Al Ahli Tripoli |
2–0 | 1–3 |
Flambeau du Centre  |
1–6 | Zamalek |
0–1 | 1–5 |
| Cape Town City |
0–4 |  Petro de Luanda |
0–3 | 0–1 |
| 1º de Agosto |
1–4 | Simba |
1–3 | 0–1 |
Royal Leopards  |
2–3 |  Coton Sport |
1–1 | 1–2 |
Rail Club du Kadiogo  |
0–0 (3–4 p) | AS Vita Club |
0–0 | 0–0 |
Group stage
Brown: Group A; 
Red: Group B; 
Orange: Group C; 
Yellow: Group D.The draw for the group stage was held on 12 December 2022, 12:00 GMT (14:00 local time, UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[18] The 16 winners of the second 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 next to every team). 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.
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In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
| Tiebreakers |
|---|
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations III. 20 & 21):
|
Group A
Group B
Notes:
- Head-to-head points: Al Ahly 3, Al Hilal 3. Head-to-head goal difference: Al Ahly +2, Al Hilal -2
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
- In the draw for the quarter-finals, the four group winners were seeded, and the four group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were 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 the semi-finals and final, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw.
| Group | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| A | Wydad AC |
JS Kabylie |
| B | Mamelodi Sundowns |
Al Ahly |
| C | Raja CA |
Simba |
| D | Espérance de Tunis |
CR Belouizdad |
Bracket
The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage, which was held on 5 April 2023.[19]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||||||
| JS Kabylie
| 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Espérance de Tunis
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Espérance de Tunis
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Al Ahly
| 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| Al Ahly
| 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Raja CA
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Al Ahly
| 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Wydad AC
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Simba
| 1 | 0 | 1 (3) | ||||||||||||||
| Wydad AC (p)
| 0 | 1 | 1 (4) | ||||||||||||||
| Wydad AC (a)
| 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Mamelodi Sundowns
| 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| CR Belouizdad
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Mamelodi Sundowns
| 4 | 2 | 6 | ||||||||||||||
Quarter-finals
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simba |
1–1 (3–4 p) | Wydad AC |
1–0 | 0–1 |
| Al Ahly |
2–0 | Raja CA |
2–0 | 0–0 |
| CR Belouizdad |
2–6 | Mamelodi Sundowns |
1–4 | 1–2 |
| JS Kabylie |
1–2 | Espérance de Tunis |
0–1 | 1–1 |
Semi-finals
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Espérance de Tunis |
0–4 | Al Ahly |
0–3 | 0–1 |
| Wydad AC |
2–2 (a) | Mamelodi Sundowns |
0–0 | 2–2 |
Final
The first leg was played on 4 June, and the second leg was played on 11 June 2023.
| Wydad AC | 1–1 | Al Ahly |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Al Ahly won 3–2 on aggregate.
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Team | MD1 | MD2 | MD3 | MD4 | MD5 | MD6 | QF1 | QF2 | SF1 | SF2 | F1 | F2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Shalulile |
Mamelodi Sundowns |
1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| Mahmoud Kahraba |
Al Ahly |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Hamza Khabba |
Raja CA |
1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
| Percy Tau |
Al Ahly |
1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Makabi Lilepo |
Al Hilal |
1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
 Clatous Chama |
Simba |
1 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Jean Othos |
Simba |
2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Cassius Mailula |
Mamelodi Sundowns |
1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
 Bouly Sambou |
Wydad AC |
1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Hussein El Shahat |
Al Ahly |
1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||