African Champions League by the numbers

Next Tuesday marks the kick-off of the group phase of this season’s African Champions League with all 16 teams playing their first games.

It promises to be a riveting, if rather rapid fire campaign, with all six rounds of group matches to be completed by mid-January.

Here are SuperSport.com’s selection of the key numbers:

0 – The number of times that Maniema Union from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast’s Stade Abidjan have previously competed in the group phase of the Champions League

2 - Number of times that South African clubs have won the continent’s top club prize. Orlando Pirates were first in 1995 and Mamelodi Sundowns followed 21 years later.

5 – Number of Champions League finals that South African clubs have appeared in. Pirates in 1995 and 2013, Sundowns in 2001 and 2016 and Kaizer Chiefs in 2021.

7 – Number of South African clubs who have previously qualified for the group phase. Pirates were first in 1997, followed by Manning Rangers, Sundowns, SuperSport United, Ajax Cape Town, Chiefs and AmaZulu.

10 – The number of successive seasons that Sundowns have qualified to compete in the group phase since they won in 2016. Al Ahly have the record of 11 successive appearances.

11 – The largest aggregate goal difference in the two preliminary rounds this season as Esperance of Tunisia thumped Somalia’s Dekedaha 12-1 in the second round to book their spot in the group phase.

12 – The number of countries allowed to enter two clubs in the Champions League. Double representation is determined by a ranking of results over the five preceding years. This season it was Algeria, Angola, DR Congo, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Tunisia who had two teams in both the Champions League and African Confederation Cup

13 – Most goals in a single Champions League campaign came from Stephen Worgu of Nigerian club Enyimba in 2008.

15 – The biggest margin of victory on aggregate in a Champions League match when Sundowns pulverised Cote d’Or from the Seychelles 16-1 on aggregate. They won 5-0 away in the first leg and 11-1 at home in the return match

16 – Most points collected in a single group phase was Sundowns in the 2021-22 campaign, winning five and drawing the other of their six group games.

17 – Number of finals that Al Ahly of Egypt have compete in, winning 12 of them. They have played in all of the last five finals, winning four of them

22 – The record number of times that both Al Ahly and Esperance have made it through to the group phase

26 – The number of different clubs who have won in the 60-year existence of the Champions Cup/League. Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia have each had three separate winners

29 – The number of competitions held since the format was changed to include a group phase in 1997. Before that the Champions Cup was a pure knockout affair with all rounds played on a home and away basis

36 – The most goals scored in a single campaign by a club when Al Ahly won the Champions League crown in 2020

47 – The number of countries who entered a team in this year’s Champions League. Those that did not were Cape Verde, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mauritius, Reunion and Sao Tome e Principe. In total there were 59 teams.

59 – The record number of group stages victories held by Esperance in 112 games.

114 – The most number of games played in the group stage by a single club, inevitably Al Ahly

179 – The total number of Champions League matches wins by South African clubs in 366 matches

556 – Number of goals that South African clubs have scored in the Champions League. Sundowns have the most with 269 while Santos never scored in the only two games they played.