Numbers you might not know. This week we focus the spotlight on the CAF Champions League.
0 – Last season marked the first time a club completed the six matches of the group stage of the CAF Champions League without conceding a goal. Petro de Luanda of Angola finished top of Group C with 12 points from three wins and three draws, with five goals netted and none conceded.
9 – A total of nine different Algerian clubs have participated in the group phase of the CAF Champions League, the most diverse number of representatives from any of the CAF member associations. They are MC Alger, USM Alger, CR Belouizdad, ASO Chlef, CS Constantine, MC El Eulma, JS Kabylie, JS Saoura and ES Setif. Nigeria have had eight different clubs in the pool stages while South Africa have seen seven through to the group round.
9 – There are nine former winners in this year’s group stage field – Al Ahly (12 titles), TP Mazembe (five), Esperance (four), Raja Casablanca (three), FAR Rabat (one), Mamelodi Sundowns (one), MC Alger (one), Orlando Pirates (one) and Stade d'Abidjan (one). The group stage teams that are yet to lift the trophy are Al Hilal (Sudan), CR Belouizdad (Algeria), Djoliba (Mali), Maniema Union (DR Congo), Pyramids (Egypt), Sagrada Esperança (Angola) and Young Africans (Tanzania),
16 – The most number of points a club has garnered in a CAF Champions League group campaign was 16 when Mamelodi Sundowns won five and drew one of their six Group A matches in the 2021-22 competition to finish six points clear of second placed Al Ahly. Both advanced, but while Sundowns suffered a surprise defeat to Petro de Luanda in the quarterfinal, Al Ahly went all the way to the final before losing to Wydad Casablanca. Raja Casablanca equaled the feat of 16 points the following season when they breezed through Group C. They also lost in the quarterfinals, to Al Ahly.
22 – This season sees Egypt’s Al Ahly and the club they beat in last season’s final, Esperance of Tunisia, compete in the group phase for a record-extending 22nd time. Both clubs missed the first two editions and it was only in the 1999 competition that they first competing in the pool stage.
29 – This year marks the 29th edition of the CAF Champions League, going back to 1997 when the league format was first introduced to the competition. That year only eight clubs competed in the group phase with the winners of the two groups – Goldfields from Ghana and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca – going straight to the final. There was no semifinal or quarterfinal stage. Raja emerged triumphant on post-match penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw in the deciding tie.
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