2021–22 CAF Champions League


The 2021–22 CAF Champions League was the 58th season of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football, and the 26th season under the current CAF Champions League title.
Wydad Casablanca won their 3rd title with a 2–0 win against the two-time defending champions, Al Ahly, in the final at Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, Morocco, Wydad earned the right to play against RS Berkane, the winners of the 2021–22 CAF Confederation Cup, in the 2022 CAF Super Cup, As the first Super Cup to bring together two Moroccan clubs in history.

Association team allocation

A total of 42 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 the competition. For this season, the CAF utilized the 2017–2021 CAF 5-year ranking, which calculated points for each entrant association based on their clubs' performance over those 5 years in the CAF club competitions. The criteria for points were as follows:
CAF Champions LeagueCAF Confederation Cup
Winners6 points5 points
Runners-up5 points4 points
Losing semi-finalists4 points3 points
Losing quarter-finalists3 points2 points
3rd place in groups2 points1 point
4th place in groups1 point0.5 point

The points were multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
  • 2020–21: x 5
  • 2019–20: × 4
  • 2018–19: × 3
  • 2018: × 2
  • 2017: × 1

Teams

The following 54 teams from 42 out of the total 54 member associations entered this season's tournament.
  • Teams in
  • Bold received a bye to the [|second round].
  • The other teams entered the [|first round].
Associations are shown according to their 2017–2021 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
AssociationRank TeamQualifying method
1 Wydad AC2020–21 Botola champions
1 Raja CA2020–21 Botola runners-up
2 Zamalek2020–21 Egyptian Premier League first place after 29 rounds
2 Al Ahly
3 Espérance de Tunis2020–21 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 champions
3 Étoile du Sahel2020–21 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up
4 CR Belouizdad2020–21 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 first place after 35 rounds
4 ES Sétif2020–21 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 second place after 35 rounds
5 Mamelodi Sundowns2020–21 South African Premier Division champions
5 AmaZulu2020–21 South African Premier Division runners-up
6 TP Mazembe2020–21 Linafoot champions
6 AS Maniema Union2020–21 Linafoot runners-up
7 Horoya AC2020–21 Guinée Championnat National champions
7 CI Kamsar2020–21 Guinée Championnat National runners-up
8 Akwa United2020–21 Nigeria Professional Football League champions
8 Rivers United2020–21 Nigeria Professional Football League runners-up
9 ZESCO United2020–21 Zambian Super League champions
9 Zanaco2020–21 Zambian Super League runners-up
10 Sagrada Esperança2020–21 Girabola champions
10 Petro de Luanda2020–21 Girabola runners-up
11 Al Hilal2020–21 Sudan Premier League champions
11 Al Merrikh2020–21 Sudan Premier League runners-up
12 Simba2020–21 Tanzanian Premier League champions
12 Young Africans2020–21 Tanzanian Premier League runners-up

; Associations which did not enter a team
'''Notes:'''

Schedule

The schedule for this season's edtition of the tournament were as follows:

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.