2022–23 CAF Champions League


The 2022–23 CAF Champions League was the 59th season of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football and the 27th under the current CAF Champions League title.
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 Confederation of African Football|CAF Champions League Final|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.
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.
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. 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:
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 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 indicated.
AssociationRank TeamQualifying method
1 Wydad AC
1 Raja CA2021–22 Botola runners-up
2 Zamalek2021–22 Egyptian Premier League 1st place after 24 rounds
2 Al Ahly2021–22 Egyptian Premier League 2nd place after 24 rounds
3 CR Belouizdad2021–22 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 champions
3 JS Kabylie2021–22 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up
4 Espérance de Tunis2021–22 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 champions
4 Union Monastirienne2021–22 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up
5 Mamelodi Sundowns2021–22 South African Premier Division champions
5 Cape Town City2021–22 South African Premier Division runners-up
6 TP Mazembe2021–22 Linafoot champions
6 AS Vita Club2021–22 Linafoot runners-up
7 Petro de Luanda2021–22 Girabola champions
7 1º de Agosto2021–22 Girabola runners-up
8 Al Hilal2021–22 Sudan Premier League champions
8 Al Merrikh2021–22 Sudan Premier League runners-up
9 Al Ittihad2021–22 Libyan Premier League champions
9 Al Ahli Tripoli2021–22 Libyan Premier League runners-up
10 Horoya2021–22 Guinée Championnat National champions
10 SOA Renaissante2021–22 Guinée Championnat National runners-up
11 Young Africans2021–22 Tanzanian Premier League champions
11 Simba2021–22 Tanzanian Premier League runners-up
12 Rivers United2021–22 Nigeria Professional Football League champions
12 Plateau United2021–22 Nigeria Professional Football League runners-up

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

Schedule

The official competition schedule was released on 24 June 2022 on their website to prepare the qualified teams for the upcoming season.

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.
Tiebreakers