2018 CAF Confederation Cup


The 2018 CAF Confederation Cup was the 15th edition of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football, under the current CAF Confederation Cup title after the merger of CAF Cup and African Cup Winners' Cup.
Raja Casablanca won the title for the first time, defeating AS [Vita Club] in the CAF [Confederation Cup">Confederation of African Football">CAF [Confederation Cup Final|final], and earned the right to play against the winners of the 2018 CAF Champions League in the 2019 CAF Super Cup.
TP Mazembe were the two-time defending champions, but as they qualified for the 2018 CAF Champions League and reached the 2018 [CAF Champions League group stage|group stage], they were not able to defend their title.

Association team allocation

All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Confederation Cup, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition. As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF uses the 2012–2016 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:
CAF Champions LeagueCAF Confederation Cup
Winners5 points4 points
Runners-up4 points3 points
Losing semi-finalists3 points2 points
3rd place in groups2 points1 point
4th place in groups1 point1 point

The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
  • 2016 – 5
  • 2015 – 4
  • 2014 – 3
  • 2013 – 2
  • 2012 – 1

Teams

The following 54 teams from 42 associations entered the competition.
Associations are shown according to their 2012–2016 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
AssociationTeamQualifying method
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Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows. The regulations were modified with an additional draw before the quarter-finals. Effective from the Confederation Cup group stage, weekend matches were played on Sundays while midweek matches were played on Wednesdays, with some exceptions. Kick-off times were also fixed at 13:00, 16:00 and 19:00 GMT.

Group stage

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.

Top goalscorers