The 2011 CAF Champions League (also known as the 2011

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

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 ...

for sponsorship reasons) was the 47th edition of

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 ...

's premier 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 c ...

tournament 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), and the 15th edition under the current

format. The winner

Espérance ST :''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 common ...

participated in the

2011 FIFA Club World Cup The 2011 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2011 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament that was played from 8 to 18 December 2011. It was the eighth edition of the FIFA Club Worl ...

, and also played in the

2012 CAF Super Cup The 2012 CAF Super Cup (also known as the 2012 Orange CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th CAF Super Cup, an annual football match in Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), between the winners of the previ ...

Association team allocation

Theoretically, up to 55 CAF member associations may enter the 2011 CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to

CAF 5-Year Ranking The CAF 5-Year Ranking system is used by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to determine the number of clubs that each member association may enter its club football competitions; the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. ...

eligible to enter 2 teams in the competition. For this year's competition, CAF used '. As a result, a maximum of 67 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.

Ranking system

CAF calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs’ performance over the last 5 years in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, not taking into considering the running year. The criteria for points are the following: The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follow: *2009 – 5 *2008 – 4 *2007 – 3 *2006 – 2 *2005 – 1 This system is different from the one used for the

2010 CAF Champions League The 2010 CAF Champions League was the 46th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 14th edition under the current CAF Champions League format. The winner, TP Mazembe q ...

and previous years. A similar procedure is used to rank clubs, with the exception that the results from 2006–2010 are used (with 2010 weighted by 5, 2009 by 4, and so on)

Entrants list

Below is the entrants list for the competition. Nations are shown according to their 2005–2009 CAF 5-Year Ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated. Teams were also seeded using their individual team 2006–2010 5-Year Ranking. The top nine sides (shown in bold) received byes to the first qualifying round. ;Notes *Associations that did not enter a team: Cape Verde,

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

, São Tomé and Príncipe,

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

*Unranked associations have no ranking points and hence are equal 20th. *Unranked teams have no rankings points and hence are equal 21st. Club ranking is determined only between teams qualified for the 2011 CAF Champions League.

Round and draw dates

Schedule of dates for 2011 competition. ^† The second leg of the preliminary round matches are postponed to 25–27 February (or further to 4–6 March) in case the club have at least three players in the

2011 African Nations Championship The 2011 African Nations Championship was the second edition of the African Nations Championship tournament. Each participating nation was represented mostly by players who play in their respective local divisions. The competition was hosted in S ...

Qualifying rounds

The fixtures for the preliminary, first and second qualifying rounds were announced on 20 December 2010. Qualification ties were decided over two legs, with aggregate goals used to determine the winner. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

applied, and if still level, the tie proceeded directly to a

penalty shootout 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 pen ...

(no

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 onl ...

is played).Regulations of the CAF Champions League
/ref>

Preliminary round

;Notes *Note 1:

Inter Luanda Grupo Desportivo Interclube, usually known as Interclube or Inter de Luanda, is an Angolan football club based in Luanda. The club is attached to the Angolan police force. Interclube is one of the two clubs based in Luanda (the other one is 1º d ...

advanced to the first round after

Township Rollers F.C. Township Rollers Football Club is a football club based in Gaborone, Botswana. Rollers are also known as Popa, The Blues or Tse Tala, the official nicknames of the club. The club is also often referred to as Mapalastina, a nickname that develope ...

withdrew. *Note 2:

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 ...

advanced to the first round after

Tourbillon In horology, a tourbillon (; "whirlwind") is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement to increase accuracy. It was developed around 1795 and patented by the Swiss-French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet on June 26, 1801. In a tourbill ...

withdrew following the first leg.

First round

;Notes *Note 3:

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 ...

advanced to the second round after

JC Abidjan Jeunesse Club d'Abidjan (JC Abidjan) is an Côte d'Ivoire, Ivorian football (soccer), football club based in Abidjan. History It was founded in 1932. They play at the Stade Robert Champroux. The club is current member of the Côte d'Ivoire Premi ...

withdrew. Tie was scheduled to be played at a neutral venue over one leg due to the political situations in

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

,CAF Interclubs matches venues and dates reviewed
/ref> but match did not take place. *Note 4: Tie played over one leg due to the political situation in

. *Note 5: Second leg abandoned on 90+5 minutes with

Zamalek SC Zamalek Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الزمالك للألعاب الرياضية), commonly referred to as Zamalek, is an Egyptian sports club based in Giza. It is one of the most successful football clubs in Africa and the Middle East, an ...

leading 2–1 (Club Africain leading 5–4 on aggregate) when

fans invaded the pitch. *Note 6:

TP Mazembe Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional football club based in Lubumbashi. History Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a value of at least $10 ...

won 6–3 on aggregate, but were later disqualified for fielding an ineligible player. As a result, Simba played against Moroccan side

Wydad AC 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 Association footba ...

, which lost to

in the second round, in a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

for a place in the group stage.

Second round

;Notes *Note 7: Ties scheduled to be played over one leg due to the political situations in

and

.Orange CAF Champions League postponed matches
/ref> *Note 8: Second leg abandoned on 81 minutes with the score at 1–1 (Al-Hilal leading 2–1 on aggregate) when

Club Africain Club Africain ( ar, النادي الإفريقي) is a Tunisian football club based in Tunis that competes in the Tunisian Championship. It fields several sports teams, including football, handball, basketball, swimming and volleyball. The foot ...

fans invaded the pitch.Club Africain Hilal game abandoned after pitch invasion
/ref> *Note 9:

won 2–1 on aggregate, but were later disqualified for fielding an ineligible player in the first round. As a result,

played against Tanzanian side

Simba Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King (franchise), The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation's List of Walt Disney Anim ...

, which lost to

in the first round, in a

for a place in the group stage. The losing teams from the second round advance to the 2011 CAF Confederation Cup play-off round.

Special play-off

On 14 May 2011, the CAF announced that

from Congo DR were disqualified from the Champions League group stage following a complaint about the eligibility of TP Mazembe's player Janvier Besala Bokungu from Tanzanian side

, which lost to them in the first round. As a result, the Organising Committee decided that a replacement for the group stage would be determined by a play-off match at a neutral venue, between Simba and Moroccan side

, which lost to TP Mazembe in the second round.TP Mazembe disqualified from the Orange CL group stage fielding ineligible player
/ref>Mazembe are disqualified from the Champions League
/ref>

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Knock-out stage

Bracket

Semifinals

Final

Espérance de Tunis won 1–0 on aggregate.

Top scorers

References

External links

CAF Champions League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caf Champions League 2011

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...