2016 CAF Confederation Cup

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 (plus eight teams eliminated from the CAF Champions League which enter the play-off round) – although this level had never been reached.

For the 2016 CAF Confederation Cup, 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 59 teams from 39 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.

Notably two team take part in the competition that do not currently play in their national top-division. They are Barrack Young Controllers II (2nd tier) and Génération Foot (2nd).

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 play-off round, where they were joined by the eight losers of the Champions League second round.

Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 21 April 2016, 14:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. The winners of the Confederation Cup second round were drawn against the losers of the Champions League second round, with the former hosting the second leg. The eight winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage.

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.

TP Mazembe won 5–2 on aggregate.