The 2020 CAF Super Cup (officially the 2020 Total CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 28th

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup (also known as African Super Cup or for sponsorship reasons TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup) is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation ...

, an annual

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

match in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

organized by the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (french: link=yes, Confédération Africaine de Football, ar, link=yes, الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administ ...

(CAF), between the winners of the previous season's two CAF club competitions, the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and con ...

and the

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

. The match was played between Espérance de Tunis from

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, the

2018–19 CAF Champions League The 2018–19 CAF Champions League (officially the 2018–19 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 55th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 2 ...

winners, and

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east a ...

from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, the

2018–19 CAF Confederation Cup The 2018–19 CAF Confederation Cup (officially the 2018–19 Total CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th edition of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), under t ...

winners, at the

Thani bin Jassim Stadium The Thani bin Jassim Stadium (), also known as the Al-Gharrafa Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Al Gharrafa district of Doha, Qatar. It is currently used mostly for football matches. Al-Gharrafa SC and Umm Salal SC play there. The st ...

Al Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

, Qatar on 14 February 2020. This season was the first to be played according to the new calendar, as per the decision of the CAF Executive Committee on 20 July 2017. The match was initially scheduled on 16, 17 or 18 August 2019, but was postponed. The CAF announced on 21 November 2019 that the match would be played on 14 February 2020 in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. The match was played in Qatar for the second season in a row, after they signed a three-year agreement with the CAF the previous season.

announced in November 2019 that they would not play the match in Qatar due to the

Qatar diplomatic crisis The Qatar diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic incident in the Middle East that began on 5 June 2017 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and banned Qatar-registered planes and ships ...

. However, the club's board voted in February 2020 to play in the match. Zamalek won the match 3–1, winning their fourth CAF Super Cup title.

Teams

Venue

The match was played at

. The stadium has a capacity of 21,175 and is the home venue of

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promoti ...

side

Al Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari multisports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Al Rayyan. It is best known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. It was estab ...

. It was one of the five venues that hosted the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

in the country.

Format

The CAF Super Cup is played as a single match at a neutral venue, with the CAF Champions League winners designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes. If the score is tied at the end of regulation,

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

will not be played, and the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

will be used to determine the winner (CAF Champions League Regulations XXVII and CAF Confederation Cup Regulations XXV).

Background

The match was the fourth CAF Super Cup to feature an Egyptian and a Tunisian team, with all previous three matches ending in favor of the Egyptian side. Espérance de Tunis qualified to the match after their controversial win against Wydad Casablanca in the 2019 CAF Champions League Final, where they were declared champions after the second leg was abandoned.

earned a place in the match after defeating RS Berkane in the 2019 CAF Confederation Cup Final 5–3 on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

after being tied 1–1 on

aggregate Aggregate or aggregates may refer to: Computing and mathematics * collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...

. This was the seventh meeting between both teams in African competition. All of their previous six encounters were in the Champions League, including the 1994 final which was won by Espérance de Tunis where they grabbed their only victory against Zamalek in the second leg. The rest of the meetings resulted in two wins for Zamalek, including an away win in 2005, and three draws between the two teams.

Pre-match

Nine days before the match, the 2019–20 CAF Champions League knockout stage draw was held at the Hilton Pyramids Golf in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

and resulted in Zamalek being drawn against Espérance de Tunis; meaning that both teams would face each other three times in three weeks. Prior to their league game against

US Tataouine Union Sportive de Tataouine () is a football club based in Tataouine, Tunisia. Founded in 1996 after the union of two biggest football clubs in the city (Tataouine Sportive 1947 and Jeunesse Sportive Rogba 1976), the team's colours are red and b ...

, Espérance de Tunis announced that defender

Abdelkader Bedrane Abdelkader Bedrane (; born 2 April 1992) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Saudi Professional League club Damac and the Algeria national team. Career statistics Club Honours ES Setif *Algerian Ligue Prof ...

has suffered from a

torn ligament A sprain, also known as a torn ligament, is an acute soft tissue injury of the ligaments within a joint, often caused by a sudden movement abruptly forcing the joint to exceed its functional range of motion. Ligaments are tough, inelastic fibers ...

and would be sidelined for at least three weeks, missing the CAF Super Cup as a result. Zamalek captain Mahmoud Shikabala suffered from an injury during training with the club in January 2020 and was still in the recovery stage. He was included by

Patrice Carteron Patrice Carteron (born 30 July 1970) is a French former professional football player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of Saudi club Al-Ettifaq. Some of his previous managerial posts include the Mali national team, TP Mazem ...

in the club's traveling squad to Qatar, but did not appear in the starting eleven or on the bench.

Match

Officials

On 10 February 2020, CAF named South African referee

Victor Gomes Victor Miguel de Freitas Gomes (born 15 December 1982) is a South African football referee. A PSL referee since 2008, Gomes was voted PSL Referee of the Season in 2012–13 and 2017–18 and has been an international referee since 2011. In ...

as the referee for the match. Gomes is considered one of Africa's finest referees and consistently appeared in all CAF major competitions since 2013. His compatriot Zakhele Siwela was chosen as one of the assistant referees, along with Mosotho official Souru Phatsoane, while Maguette N'Diaye of Senegal was chosen as the fourth official. Zambian referee

Janny Sikazwe Janny Sikazwe (born 1979) is a former Zambian international football referee. He got his big break in 2008 at COSAFA U-20 Challenge Cup in South Africa when he was called to replace another referee who had failed a fitness test. On 7 January ...

was named the

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee. The assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) is a current or former referee appointed to assist the VAR in the video ope ...

and was assisted by

Mustapha Ghorbal Mustapha Ghorbal ( ar, مصطفى غربال; born 19 August 1985) is an Algerian association football referee. He has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2014. Career Mustapha Ghorbal made his debut in the Algerian first division ...

from Algeria and Gerson Emiliano dos Santos from Angola.

Details

References

External links

Total CAF Super Cup
CAFonline.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Caf Super Cup 2020 (February)

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Super Cup Espérance Sportive de Tunis matches Zamalek SC matches 2019–20 in Tunisian football 2019–20 in Egyptian football International club association football competitions hosted by Qatar February 2020 sports events in Asia