The AFRICA/CAF Champions league 2026/2027 🏆

[yixichloro2xx]

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I noticed that we don't have an active Champions league thread for Africa Football.
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‎With the CAF Champions League season already started, I think it would be good to have one dedicated thread where we can discuss everything happening in the competition.
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‎Recent Champions 🏆

Season	Winner	Country
2025/26	Mamelodi Sundowns	South Africa🇿🇦
2024/25	Pyramids FC	Egypt🇪🇬
2023/24	Al Ahly	Egypt🇪🇬
2022/23	Al Ahly	Egypt🇪🇬

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‎🏆 Top CAF Champions League Record Winners

Rank	Club	Country	Titles	Winning Years
1	Al Ahly	🇪🇬 Egypt	12	1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024
2	Zamalek SC	🇪🇬 Egypt	5	1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002
3	TP Mazembe	🇨🇩 DR Congo	5	1967, 1968, 2009, 2010, 2015
4	Espérance de Tunis	🇹🇳 Tunisia	4	1994, 2011, 2018, 2019
5	Raja CA	🇲🇦 Morocco	3	1989, 1997, 1999
6	Wydad AC	🇲🇦 Morocco	3	1992, 2017, 2022
7	Hafia FC	🇬🇳 Guinea	3	1972, 1975, 1977
8	Canon Yaoundé	🇨🇲 Cameroon	3	1971, 1978, 1980
9	Mamelodi Sundowns	🇿🇦 South Africa	2	2016, 2026
10	ES Sétif	🇩🇿 Algeria	2	1988, 2014
11	JS Kabylie	🇩🇿 Algeria	2	1981, 1990
12	Asante Kotoko	🇬🇭 Ghana	2	1970, 1983
13	Enyimba F.C.	🇳🇬 Nigeria	2	2003, 2004

‎Caf Champions league Format

1. ‎Qualifying rounds (preliminary phases) : 2 rounds are being played, whereby teams paired up  plays two-legged (home and away) matches. Note: The top and strongest team doesn't play in first round, instead they play in the second round.

2. ‎Group stage:  16 teams from the preliminary phase qualifies to the group stage.  The groups are in 4 (A,B,C,D) , where the top two teams qualifies to the Quarter-finals (2 legged) up to the Final.

3. ‎The Final : The CAF champions league final is different from the ones that are common to us. This one is played in 2 legs (Home and Away),  with each finalist host one match. Away goal rule still exist in our Champions league.
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[yixichloro2xx]

Preliminary Round 1 and their next opponents
             
             
             

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_CAF_Champions_League_qualifying_rounds

[SatoPrincess]

I noticed that we don't have an active Champions league thread for Africa Football.

Actually, we do. Here it is: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5552887.msg65661037#msg65661037

[yixichloro2xx]

I noticed that we don't have an active Champions league thread for Africa Football.

Actually, we do. Here it is: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5552887.msg65661037#msg65661037

I observed that the thread mostly focus on National team football not majorly on Clubs. The discussion there are usually about AFCON, AFCON qualifiers, FIFA world cup/qualifiers.  This was a topic created in 2021 : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5329144.msg56734198#msg56734198 but no one participated in it.

[Charles-Tim]

I observed that the thread mostly focus on National team football not majorly on Clubs. The discussion there are usually about AFCON, AFCON qualifiers, FIFA world cup/qualifiers.  This was a topic created in 2021 : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5329144.msg56734198#msg56734198 but no one participated in it.

I noticed this also, but you can try and bring up other discussions on the thread that SatoPrincess mentioned and see if people will discuss about it. But what I noticed is that I do not think people like to discuss about Africa National Leagues and CAF. Or maybe in Nigeria because Nigerians dominate the thread.

[BIT-BENDER]

It's a good one if there is no post about the CAF champions League but honestly the league is not well watched but those thread would probably Kindle or rekindle people's interests in African club football.
My favorite team back then in CAF champions League was Enyimba from Nigeria and Al ahly of Egypt the encounter between this to team always give but now I don't know who is dominating in the past five to ten years.

[Agbe]

I think people are not discussing those competition because they are not showing them. Personally I have not seen them in any sports channels on TV. And if they were showing and there were specific frequency channels allocated to those competitions and people are following them up. Aha! Discussion would be like other competition in the region.

As for now we can discuss all those competitions in this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5552887.msg65661037#msg65661037. Though Op initiative is good one but how many people will join this discussion because as I said there is no channel though one or two matches will be showing in those general sports channels but just few.

[Brizi5000]

It's a good one if there is no post about the CAF champions League but honestly the league is not well watched but those thread would probably Kindle or rekindle people's interests in African club football.
My favorite team back then in CAF champions League was Enyimba from Nigeria and Al ahly of Egypt the encounter between this to team always give but now I don't know who is dominating in the past five to ten years.

The likes of Al Ahly fc of Egypt and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa are very much in dominance of the CAF champions league, Al Ahly Fc  having won it back to back during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. But currently, Mamelodi sundowns of South Africa are the reigning champions, this team is one of the best team in Africa right now, recently they won their game against Al-ahly Saudi Fc in the FIFA Africa-Asia pacific cup putting African football on the global map. Enyimba Fc have fallen off in the CAF champions league a long time ago, I can’t even remember the last time they qualified for the CAF champions league. My favorite team Rivers United just got eliminated from the CAF champions league 2026 by FC San Pedro of Ivory Coast, although Nigeria still have one representative remaining in the competition, Enugu Rangers Fc.  Maybe because of this I might  still be interested to watch and follow up with the competition since Nigeria still have a representative left in the competition. If not it will be less interesting for most people to follow up with the competition especially Nigerians.

[Moreno233]

I saw Al Hilal in the list, I thought that is a club from UAE, if so how are they playing in CAF champions league?

It's such a shame that only Rangers scaled through among the Nigerian teams.

I noticed that we don't have an active Champions league thread for Africa Football.

Actually, we do. Here it is: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5552887.msg65661037#msg65661037

This thread is for CAF champions league and mot nations cup. I think the other thread is mainly for international matches and not club sides so this thread is still in order and very necessary.

[yixichloro2xx]

I think people are not discussing those competition because they are not showing them. Personally I have not seen them in any sports channels on TV. And if they were showing and there were specific frequency channels allocated to those competitions and people are following them up. Aha! Discussion would be like other competition in the region.

As for now we can discuss all those competitions in this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5552887.msg65661037#msg65661037. Though Op initiative is good one but how many people will join this discussion because as I said there is no channel though one or two matches will be showing in those general sports channels but just few.

Most CAF matches are shown on super sport channel  on DSTV , Saturdays and Sundays, like Wise their Confredation cup. It's just that the time they usually air those matches, premier league/la liga matches are also being played during those periods, which overshadows the Competition. For me I feel there isn't enough advertisement, promotion and publicity about the Champions league.

This current competition 2 Nigeria team qualified Enugu rangers and Rivers United (which most Nigeria football doesn't know about). African football standard is still and most of the times , the North African team are the dominant ones.

[obuoma]

The CAF champions league have been dominated by Egyptian teams for several years but recently we have seen serious improvements in South African teams with Mamelodi Sundowns winning it to remain the defending champions. I have the feeling that they will still win it again for the second time in a row, they are not slowing down. Their recent matches can attest to that, as they have consistently scored more than ine goal every of their match. If they don't win it, it will miss them narrowly.