Dates 12 Feb 2016 – 23 Oct 2016 Teams 55 Matches played 114 | Goals scored 261 | |
Similar 2015 CAF Champions League, 2014 CAF Champions League, 2013 CAF Champions League, 2015–16 Egyptian Premier L, 2012 CAF Champions League | ||
The 2016 CAF Champions League (officially the 2016 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 20th edition under the current CAF Champions League format.
Contents
- Association team allocation
- Teams
- Schedule
- Qualifying rounds
- Preliminary round
- Second round
- Group stage
- Knockout stage
- Semi finals
- Final
- References
Mamelodi Sundowns defeated Zamalek in the final to win their first CAF Champions League title, and qualified as the CAF representative at the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, their first appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2016 CAF Confederation Cup in the 2017 CAF Super Cup. TP Mazembe were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the second round.
Association team allocation
All 56 CAF member associations might enter the CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-Year Ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition. The title holders could also enter. As a result, theoretically a maximum of 69 teams could enter the tournament – although this level had never been reached.
For the 2016 CAF Champions League, the CAF used the 2010–2014 CAF 5-Year Ranking, 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:
Teams
The following 55 teams from 43 associations entered the competition.
Teams in bold received a bye to the first round. The other teams entered the preliminary round.
Associations are shown according to their 2010–2014 CAF 5-Year Ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows. For the first time, some rounds of matches were officially scheduled in midweek (in italics) instead of on weekends.
Qualifying rounds
The draw for the preliminary, first and second rounds was held on 11 December 2015 in Dakar, Senegal.
In the qualifying rounds, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).
Preliminary round
Second round
The eight winners of the second round advanced to the group stage, while the eight losers of the second round entered the Confederation Cup play-off round.
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 24 May 2016, 14:30 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four.
In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the semi-finals.
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, the four teams played a single-elimination tournament. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 26 & 27).
Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, the group A winners played the group B runners-up, and the group B winners played the group A runners-up, with the group winners hosting the second leg.
Final
In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the order of legs decided by an additional draw held after the group stage draw.
Mamelodi Sundowns won 3–1 on aggregate.