The 2020–21 CAF Champions League (officially the 2020–21 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 57th edition of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

's premier club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament organized by the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

(CAF), and the 25th edition under the current

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 (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

title.

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

successfully defended their title and defeated Kaizer Chiefs 3–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, which was played at

Stade Mohammed V The Mohammed V Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium which is named after King Mohammed V and situated at the heart of Casablanca, Morocco, in the western part of the Maârif neighborhood. The stadium has a seating capacity of 45,000 and it is ...

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

, Morocco, winning their record-extending tenth and second consecutive title. As the winners of the 2020–21 CAF Champions League, Al Ahly represented Africa in both the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and

2025 FIFA Club World Cup The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, also marketed as FIFA Club World Cup 25) is the 21st edition and the first of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, an international club soccer competition organized ...

s, and played against

Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic, widely known as Raja Casablanca or simply Raja, is a Football team, football club based in Casablanca, Morocco, that competes in Botola, the top flight of Moroccan football league system, Moroccan football. Founded on 20 M ...

, the winners of the

2020–21 CAF Confederation Cup The 2020–21 CAF Confederation Cup (officially the 2020–21 Total CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th edition of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), under ...

, in the

2021–22 CAF Super Cup The 2021 CAF Super Cup (officially the TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was the 30th CAF Super Cup, an annual association football, football match in Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), between ...

Association team allocation

All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their

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 two teams in the competition. As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached. For the 2020–21 CAF Champions League, the CAF uses the 2016–2020

, which calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs' performance over those 5 years in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup. The criteria for points are the following: The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows: *2019–20: × 5 *2018–19: × 4 *2018: × 3 *2017: × 2 *2016: × 1

Teams

Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, associations may abandon their domestic competitions and select the representatives in CAF club competitions. Associations may register their representatives during the engagement window between 1 September and 20 October 2020. All engaged teams must respect the Club Licensing procedure and cooperate with their respective Associations, as non-licensed clubs would be refused participation. The following 54 teams from 42 associations entered the competition. *Teams in bold received a bye to the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. *The other teams entered the

preliminary round A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. ''Associations are shown according to their 2016–2020 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score (in parentheses) indicated.'' ;Associations which did not enter a team * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Notes

Schedule

The start of the competition was delayed due to the

. On 1 September 2020, the CAF announced the new schedule. On 10 September 2020, the CAF decided to further delay the preliminary round, originally scheduled for 20–22 November (first legs) and 28–29 November (second legs), and the first round, originally scheduled for 11–13 December (first legs) and 18–20 December (second legs). The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows.

Qualifying rounds

Preliminary round

First round

Group stage

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Top goalscorers

References

External links

CAFonline.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caf Champions League 2020-21 1 1 Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 The year 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 even ...