A-Z of the CAF Champions League

The group stages of the 2024-25 CAF Champions League get under way on November 26 as the 16 remanning sides battle it out for a quarterfinal place, with some experiencing this stage for the first time and others now seasoned veterans.

SuperSport.com looks at the A-Z of the competition.

A – Egyptian giants Al Ahly are the most successful club in the history of the competition with 12 wins, more than double the number of next most successful team

B – The Buccaneers, the nickname of Orlando Pirates, who were the first South African side to win the title back in 1985 at the expense of ASEC Abidjan of the Ivory Coast and are back in the pool stages this year for the first time since the 2018/19 season.

C – The Champions League format was introduced in 1997. Before that the competition was a straight knockout event with ties played over two legs, home and away. Now there is a league phase before quarterfinals, semifinals and the final, all over two legs.

D – Dynamos from Zimbabwe are one of only five southern African clubs to reach the Champions League final, along with Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates and the Zambian outfit Nkana.

E – Egyptian clubs have the highest number of victories (18 titles), followed by Morocco with seven. They have appeared in 28 finals in all, double the next highest of 14 by Tunisian clubs.

F – Faouzi Benzarti is a veteran Tunisian coach who has been a perennial figure with a plethora of different clubs in the Champions League but been on the winning side only once with Esperance in 1994

G – Ghana’s record in the final of the Champions League is 11 appearances between 1967 and 2000, but they lost on eight of those occasions

H – Hafia of Guinea reached the final of the Champions Cup five times between 1972 and 1978 in a golden era for football from Guinea but have never achieved those heights again. They lifted the trophy in 1972, 1975 and 1977.

I – Ismaili were the first ever Egyptian winners of the competition in 1969, long before Al Ahly or Zamalek began their dominance.

J – Jerry Sikhosana was scorer of the breakaway goal, going around the goalkeeper, to hand Pirates the Champions Cup in 1995 and silence the crowd in Abidjan, whose home side ASEC had been runaway favourites.

K – Kaizer Chiefs were the first South African side to participate in the Champions Cup in 1983, playing three round before being eliminated.

L – The preliminary and knockout rounds either side of the group stage are played over two legs. The competition did introduce a single final between 2020 and 2022, but this proved unpopular and was done away with.

M – Mamelodi Sundowns have reached the group phase of the Champions League 10 times in a row but have only won once in 2016

N – Nigeria is the continent’s most populous country but has had only one African club champions when Enyimba won in 2003 and 2004.

0 – Oryx Douala are now playing third tier football in Cameroon, having long fallen from grace, but will forever be remembered as the first club to win the Champions Cup back in 1964.

P – Pitso Mosimane is the only South African coach to win the Champions League, doing it three times with two different clubs, Mamelodi Sundowns (once) and Al Ahly (twice).

Q – Winning the Champions League is a qualification path to the new expanded Fifa Club World Cup, where teams receive upwards of $40-million just for taking part.

R – The record 16-1 aggregate margin for a Champions League qualifier was achieved by Sundowns in the 2020 edition when they thrashed Seychellois club, Cote d'Or 11-1 at home and 5-0 away.

S – Penalty shootouts have been required 10 times to decide the continental championship but the last time was in 2004 when Enyimba of Nigeria edged Etoile Sahel from Tunisia 5-3 on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate draw.

T – DR Congo forward Tresor Mputu is credited with the most goals scored in the Champions league competition with 39 in 73 appearances for TP Mazembe and Kabuscorp in Angola.

U – The UNAF zone of North Africa has seen clubs lift the trophy on 36 occasions, more than the rest of the zones put together – Central Africa (UNIFFAC) 12, West Africa WAFU A & B) 10, Southern Africa (COSAFA) 2 and East Africa (CECAFA) 0.

V – South African clubs have been involved in five Champions League finals but been victorious only twice – Orlando Pirates (1995) and Mamelodi Sundowns (2016). Sundowns lost in 2001, Pirates in 2013 and Kaizer Chiefs in 2021.

W – Wydad Casablanca from Morocco have appeared in four of the last eight finals and won two of those. Can their current coach Rulani Mokwena lead them to glory having fallen short with Mamelodi Sundowns?

X – Extra time is never played in the Champions League. If teams are level after two legs they go straight to penalties to sort out the winner.

Y – Twelve nations may enter two clubs into the Champions League. The selection of which 12 countries can do so is determined by CAF’s five-year raking of their performance in the competition over that period. The top five associations this year were Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, South Africa and Tunisia.

Z – Zamalek have won the Champions League five times but the Cairo club had their last success 22 years ago.