The Arab Club Champions Cup ( ar, كأس العرب للأندية الأبطال, french: Ligue des Champions Arabe) is an annual regional club

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 ...

competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by elite clubs from the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. The tournament is contested by a total of 38 teams – 19 from the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly ...

and 19 from 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 ...

. Founded in 1981, the tournament was held alongside the

Arab Cup Winners' Cup The Arab Cup Winners' Cup ( ar, الكأس العربية للأندية الفائزة بالكؤوس) was a football competition between the winning clubs of national cup competitions in Arab nations. It started in 1989 and merged with the Arab ...

and the

Arab Super Cup The Arab Super Cup ( ar, الكأس العربية الممتازة) was an Arab football competition, held between four teams (the winners and runners-up of both the Arab Club Champions Cup and the Arab Cup Winners' Cup) each year. History The ...

throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, until the Cup Winners' Cup and Super Cup were merged with the Champions Cup in 2002. The tournament's first ever champions were Iraqi club

Al-Shorta Al-Shorta Sports Club ( ar, نادي الشرطة الرياضي, lit=''Police Sports Club'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Iraq, Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 17 different sports, more than any other Iraqi club, and the b ...

, who defeated Lebanese side

Nejmeh Nejmeh Sporting Club ( ar, نادي النجمة الرياضي, lit=The Star Sporting Club) is a football club based in Manara, a district in Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . The club was established in Beirut in 1945, and ...

in the final over two legs in 1982.

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

n clubs have accumulated the most victories, with eight wins. The title has been won by 19 clubs, eight of which have the title more than once. Since the tournament was merged with the Cup Winners' Cup, only

ES Sétif Entente Sportive Sétifienne ( ar, الوفاق الرياضي السطايفي), known as Entente de Sétif, commonly referred to as ES Sétif or ESS for short, is an Algerian professional football club based in Sétif. The club was founded in ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

have managed consecutive wins, successfully defending their title in 2008. Defunct Iraqi club

Al-Rasheed Al-Rasheed Sports Club ( ar, نادي الرشيد الرياضي) was an Iraqi sports club based in Karkh, Baghdad. Its professional football team played in the Iraqi Premier League, the top tier of the Iraqi football, from 1984 until 1990. ...

and Tunisian side

Espérance de Tunis :''See also Esperance (disambiguation)'' Espérance is one of the two French words that can be translated into "hope", the other being "espoir". Whereas the latter is closer to the idea of "dream" or "fantasy" and corresponds to most of the commo ...

share the record for most titles, with three each. The reigning champions are

Raja CA Raja Club Athletic ( ar, نادي الرجاء الرياضي, Nādī ar-Rajāʾ ar-Riyāḍī, zgh, ⴰⵙⵔⵉⵔ ⵏ ⵕⴰⵊⴰ ⴰⵎⴰⵏⵓⵏ), commonly referred to as Raja CA, Raja Casablanca or simply RCA is a professional footb ...

of Morocco, who won their second title in the 2019–20 season.

History

1981–1988: Asian clubs in control

The Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) decided to create a competition for champions of Arab countries after the end of the 1979–80 season. Domestic champions from UAFA's member nations were invited to compete, but after several withdrawals, only three teams from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ended up participating. The competition, known as the Arab Club Championship for League Champions, kicked off on 19 June 1981 with Lebanese champions

beating Jordanian champions Al-Ahli 2–1. Nejmeh's Jamal Al-Khatib was the scorer of the first ever Arab Club Champions Cup goal. Nejmeh and Al-Shorta competed in the inaugural final in February 1982, with Al-Shorta winning 4–2 on aggregate at

Al-Shaab Stadium Al-Shaab International Stadium ( ar, ملعب الشعب الدولي, lit=The People's Stadium) is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Baghdad, Iraq. The 34,200-seater was the home stadium of the Iraq national football team, as well as the lar ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

to be crowned the first ever champions of the

. The tournament was not held the following year but returned in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

in a round-robin format, and Al-Ettifaq earned the first title for a

Saudi Arabian Saudis ( ar, سعوديون, Suʿūdiyyūn) are people identified with the country of Saudi Arabia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. The Saudis are composed mainly of Arabs and primarily speak a regional dialect ...

club that year. With the number of participants increasing year upon year, UAFA introduced preliminary qualifying rounds that preceded the final round-robin tournament, before they changed the format of the final tournament in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

to one that consisted of a group stage followed by a knockout stage. UAFA also started to allow countries to have more than one participant in 1987, with two Saudi Arabian clubs (

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

and Al-Hilal) and two Iraqi clubs (

and

Al-Jaish Al Jaish is Arabic for army, and may refer to: * Tala'ea El Gaish SC, a football club based in Cairo, Egypt * Al-Jaish FC (Iraq), a football club based in Baghdad, Iraq * Al-Jaish SC (Syria), a football club based in Damascus, Syria * El Jaish SC, ...

) competing. Al-Rasheed of Iraq dominated the competition during these years, becoming the first team to win three consecutive championships in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and

, while Al-Ettifaq won their title back in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. From 1981 to 1988, no team from the

(CAF) was able to win the tournament and all winners were from the

(AFC).

1989–2001: Even between Asian and African sides

An African club became champions of the Arab world for the first time in 1989 as

Wydad Casablanca Wydad Athletic Club ( ar, نادي الوداد الرياضي, ) commonly referred to as Wydad AC and known as Wydad, or simply as WAC, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional football team that ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

beat

's Al-Hilal in the final. That same year, UAFA founded a new annual competition that would be held alongside the Arab Club Champions Cup; it was called the

and was a competition for the cup winners of Arab countries, with a similar format to that of the Champions Cup. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, UAFA introduced the

which was an annual round-robin competition between the winners and runners-up of both the Champions Cup and Cup Winners' Cup. From 1989 until 2001, there were six winners from CAF and five from the AFC. Four of the eleven winners during this time were from Saudi Arabia, while

earned the first win for a Tunisian team in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, Al-Ahly became the first

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

champions in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

WA Tlemcen Widad Athletic Tlemcen ( ar, وداد تلمسان), known as WA Tlemcen or WAT for short, is an Algerian football (soccer), football club based in Tlemcen. The club was founded in 1962 and its colours are blue and white. Their home stadium, Stad ...

earned

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

's first title in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

Al-Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd (Qatar), Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, whic ...

won the first title for a

Qatari 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 ...

club in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2002–present: African teams dominate after unification

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, UAFA made a decision that changed the face of Arab continental football. With the increasing number of commitments facing Arab clubs in the modern era, UAFA decided to merge the Cup Winners' Cup and Super Cup with the Champions Cup to form the Arab Unified Club Championship, which would be the only UAFA club tournament. Two editions of the tournament were played under this name, with Al-Ahli of

winning in

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 ...

winning in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. After the 2003 edition,

ART Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

became the tournament's sponsor and UAFA then changed the name of the tournament to the Arab Champions League so that its name was similar to other elite continental tournaments such as the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

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 co ...

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

and

OFC Champions League The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club soccer competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been ...

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

CS Sfaxien Club Sportif Sfaxien ( ar, النادي الرياضي الصفاقسي) is a Tunisian professional association football club founded in 1928. History The club was founded in 1928 as ''Club Tunisien'', playing in green and red stripes. The team ...

became the first winners of the Champions League era. From the 2004–05 edition onwards, UAFA reintroduced two-legged finals, which had not been used since the very first edition of the tournament. After title wins for Saudi Arabia's

and

Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic ( ar, نادي الرجاء الرياضي, Nādī ar-Rajāʾ ar-Riyāḍī, zgh, ⴰⵙⵔⵉⵔ ⵏ ⵕⴰⵊⴰ ⴰⵎⴰⵏⵓⵏ), commonly referred to as Raja CA, Raja Casablanca or simply RCA is a professional footb ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

became the first back-to-back winners in the Champions League era by claiming both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 titles. After the 2008–09 edition won by

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

, UAFA ran into organisational problems due to issues with the tournament's new sponsor. This prevented the tournament from being held for four years until it resurfaced in 2012–13 under the new name of UAFA Club Cup, with Algeria's

USM Alger Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger ( ar, الإتحاد الرياضي لمدينة الجزائر); known as USM Alger or simply USMA for short, is a football club based in the inner suburbs of Algiers. The club was founded in 1937 and its co ...

earning their first title. However, UAFA then ran into the same problems as before which led to another four-year hiatus. The competition was held again in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

under the name of Arab Club Championship with 20 competing teams; the entirety of the group stage and knockout stage were held in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and the final was held as a single leg. Espérance de Tunis were crowned champions making them the joint-most successful team in the competition's history. The number of teams doubled to 40 for the 2018–19 season where the competition was renamed to Arab Club Champions Cup and changed its format to become a knockout competition from the Round of 32 onwards. Out of the twelve champions crowned from 2002 to 2020, ten of them were from Africa and only two were from Asia.

Records and statistics

Finals

Performances by club

Performances by country

Performances by continent

References

External links

UAFA Competitions - Al-Shorta SC Website
{{Arab Championships Union of Arab Football Associations club competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1981 1981 establishments in Africa 1981 establishments in Asia