2017 Arab Club Championship

The 2017 Arab Club Championship was the 27th season^{[note 1]} of the Arab World's inter-club football tournament organised by UAFA, and the first season since it was renamed from the UAFA Club Cup to the Arab Club Championship. The competition was won by Tunisian club Espérance de Tunis, who defeated Jordanian side Al-Faisaly 3–2 after extra time in the final to secure a joint-record third title.

2017 Arab Club Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Egypt (from group stage onwards)
Dates	Qualifying: 14 September 2016 – 4 March 2017 Competition proper: 22 July 2017 – 6 August 2017
Teams	20 (from 2 confederations) (from 18 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Espérance de Tunis (3rd title)
Runners-up	Al-Faisaly
Tournament statistics
Matches played	36
Goals scored	83 (2.31 per match)
Attendance	755,000 (20,972 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mohamed Fouzair (3 goals)
← 2012–13 2018–19 →

Allocation of entries

The following team entries allocation was announced by the Union of Arab Football Associations on 20 June 2016.^[1] Each association was given entry either to the qualifying play-off or to the group stage based on the FIFA World Ranking of the associations on 2 June 2016.^[2] Only teams who were champions or runners-up of either their nation's league or one of their nation's cup competitions were allowed to participate in the tournament.

Participation for 2017 Arab Club Championship
	Allocated group stage slot(s)
	Allocated qualifying play-off slot
	Did not participate

Asia Zone Rank Member Association Slots Group stage Qualifying play-off Zone All Play-off round Prelim. round 2 Prelim. round 1 1 5 Saudi Arabia 2 0 0 0 2 6 United Arab Emirates 1 0 0 0 3 7 Jordan 1 0 0 0 4 8 Qatar[A] 0 0 0 0 5 9 Oman 0 1 0 0 6 10 Syria 0 1 0 0 7 11 Iraq 0 1 0 0 8 12 Palestine 0 0 1 0 9 16 Bahrain 0 0 0 1 10 17 Kuwait[B] 0 0 0 0 11 18 Lebanon 0 0 0 1 12 20 Yemen[C] 0 0 0 0 Total 4 3 1 2 6 10

Africa Zone Rank Member Association Slots Group stage Qualifying play-off Zone All Play-off round Prelim. round 2 Prelim. round 1 1 1 Algeria[D] 1 0 0 0 2 2 Egypt[D] 2 0 0 0 3 3 Tunisia 1 0 0 0 4 4 Morocco 1 0 0 0 5 13 Mauritania 0 1 0 0 6 14 Libya[E] 0 0 0 0 7 15 Sudan 0 0 1 0 8 19 Comoros 0 0 0 1 9 21 Djibouti 0 0 0 1 10 22 Somalia 0 0 0 1 Total 5 1 1 3 5 10

Notes

1. ^
   Qatar were allocated one group stage slot, but chose not to participate due to scheduling difficulties with other tournaments.
2. ^
   Kuwait were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but could not participate due to FIFA's suspension of its football association.
3. ^
   Yemen were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but did not participate due to the suspension of footballing activity in the country.
4. ^
   As the tournament's hosts (from the group stage onwards), Egypt were allocated two group stage slots as opposed to one, and Algeria were therefore allocated just one group stage slot rather than two.
5. ^
   Libya were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but did not participate due to the suspension of footballing activity in the country.

Teams

The following 20 teams from 18 associations entered the competition.

Asia Zone Team Qualifying method App Last App Group stage entrants Al-Hilal 2015–16 Saudi Professional League runners-up 9th 2004–05 Al-Nassr 2016 King Cup runners-up 5th 2012–13 Al-Wahda[Note UAE] 2015–16 UAE League Cup winners 1st none Al-Faisaly 2015–16 Jordan League runners-up 12th[Note JOR] 2008–09 Play-off round entrants Fanja 2015–16 Oman Professional League champions 3rd 1989 Al-Jaish 2015–16 Syrian Premier League champions 7th 2006–07 Naft Al-Wasat 2015–16 Iraqi Premier League runners-up 1st none Preliminary round 2 entrants Shabab Al-Khalil 2015–16 West Bank Premier League champions 1st none Preliminary round 1 entrants Al-Riffa 2015–16 Bahraini King's Cup runners-up 8th 2007–08 Al-Ahed 2015–16 Lebanese Premier League runners-up 2015–16 Lebanese FA Cup runners-up 2nd 2004–05

Africa Zone Team Qualifying method App Last App Group stage entrants NA Hussein Dey 2015–16 Algerian Cup runners-up 4th 2004–05 Al-Ahly 2015–16 Egyptian Premier League champions 2016 Egypt Cup runners-up 7th 2003–04 Zamalek 2016 Egypt Cup winners 2015–16 Egyptian Premier League runners-up 6th 2006–07 Espérance de Tunis 2015–16 Tunisian Cup winners 2015–16 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up 7th 2008–09 Fath Union Sport 2015–16 Botola champions 2015 Coupe du Trône runners-up 1st none Play-off round entrants FC Tevragh-Zeina 2015–16 Ligue 1 Mauritania champions 2016 Coupe du Président de la République winners 2nd 2012–13 Preliminary round 2 entrants Al-Merrikh 2016 Sudan Premier League runners-up 10th 2008–09 Preliminary round 1 entrants Volcan Club 2015 Comoros Premier League champions 2016 Coupe des Comores winners 1st none ASAS Djibouti Télécom 2015–16 Djibouti Premier League champions 2016 Djibouti Cup winners 1st none Dekedaha 2015–16 Somali First Division runners-up 1st none

Notes

1. ^
   Al-Wahda were a late replacement for Al-Ain (2015–16 UAE Pro-League runners-up and 2015–16 UAE President's Cup runners-up), who decided to withdraw from the tournament.
2. ^
   Not including Al-Faisaly's appearance in the cancelled 1990 edition.

Venues

The following three venues were chosen to host all matches from the group stage onwards.

Alexandria	Alexandria
Borg El Arab Stadium	Alexandria Stadium
Capacity: 86,000	Capacity: 13,660
Cairo	Cairo Alexandria
Al Salam Stadium
Capacity: 30,000

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.^[1][3]

Stage	Round	Date
Qualifying play-off	Round 1	14 September 2016 – 4 March 2017
	Round 2
	Play-off round
Group stage	Matchday 1	22 July – 6 August 2017
	Matchday 2
	Matchday 3
Knockout stage	Semi-finals
	Final

Qualifying play-off

Main article: 2017 Arab Club Championship qualifying play-off

The qualifying play-off was held between 14 September 2016 and 4 March 2017. The three winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the nine direct entrants.

Preliminary round 1

Asia Zone

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Riffa	1–5	Al-Ahed	0–1	1–4

Africa Zone

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		DJI	DEK	VOL
1	ASAS Djibouti Télécom[Note DJI] (H)	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2		—	1–1	0–0
2	Dekedaha	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2		—	—	0–0
3	Volcan Club	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	2		—	—	—

Source: UAFA
(H) Hosts

Notes

1. ^
   ASAS Djibouti Télécom qualified via a drawing of lots.

Preliminary round 2

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Asia Zone
Al-Ahed	3–0	Shabab Al-Khalil	1–0	2–0
Africa Zone
ASAS Djibouti Télécom	1–2	Al-Merrikh	1–1	0–1

Play-off round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Asia Zone
Al-Jaish	0–1	Naft Al-Wasat	0–0	0–1
Al-Ahed	6–1	Fanja	2–1	4–0
Africa Zone
FC Tevragh-Zeina	2–3	Al-Merrikh	0–1	2–2

Group stage

From the group stage onwards, the tournament was held in Egypt in the cities of Cairo and Alexandria. Twelve teams participated in the group stage, divided into three groups. The draw for the groups took place on 5 May 2017 in Cairo.^[4][5] The top team of each group along with the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers
points obtained in all group matches; goal difference in all group matches; number of goals scored in all group matches. If two or more teams were to be equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings would have been determined as follows: points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned.

• Times listed are UTC+2.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Al-Faisaly	3	3	0	0	4	1	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Al-Ahly	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
3	NA Hussein Dey	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3
4	Al-Wahda	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

Source: Soccerway

22 July 2017 (2017-07-22)

17:30

NA Hussein Dey	2–0	Al-Wahda
Addadi 11' Gasmi 45+1'	Report

Al Salam Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Redouane Jiyed (Morocco)

22 July 2017 (2017-07-22)

21:15

Al-Ahly	0–1	Al-Faisaly
	Report	Al-Rawajdaeh 55'

Al Salam Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)

---

25 July 2017 (2017-07-25)

18:00

Al-Faisaly	1–0	NA Hussein Dey
Mendy 52'	Report

Al Salam Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)

25 July 2017 (2017-07-25)

21:00

Al-Wahda	0–2	Al-Ahly
	Report	32' Barakat 84' Mohareb

Al Salam Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Youssef Essrayri (Tunisia)

---

28 July 2017 (2017-07-28)

18:00

Al-Wahda	1–2	Al-Faisaly
Batna 41'	Report	76' Łukasz 90+2' Zuway

Al Salam Stadium, Cairo

Referee: Mohammed Darwish (Lebanon)

28 July 2017 (2017-07-28)

21:00

Al-Ahly	2–1	NA Hussein Dey
Gomaa 74' (pen.) Barakat 90+2'	Report	61' Boulaouidet

Al Salam Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 13,000

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fath Union Sport	3	1	2	0	7	3	+4	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Al-Ahed	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
3	Zamalek	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
4	Al-Nassr	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Source: Soccerway

23 July 2017 (2017-07-23)

18:00

Al-Nassr	1–1	Al-Ahed
Al-Shehri 37'	Report	49' Diop

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

23 July 2017 (2017-07-23)

21:00

Zamalek	2–2	Fath Union Sport
Morsy 43' (pen.) Shikabala 65'	Report	8', 89' Diakité

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Yaqoub Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates)

---

26 July 2017 (2017-07-26)

18:00

Fath Union Sport	4–0	Al-Nassr
Fouzair 11', 29' (pen.), 32' (pen.) El-Bahraoui 60'	Report

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)

26 July 2017 (2017-07-26)

21:00

Al-Ahed	1–0	Zamalek
Zreik 84'	Report

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Qasim Al-Hatmi (Oman)

---

29 July 2017 (2017-07-29)

18:00

Al-Ahed	1–1	Fath Union Sport
Haidar 54' (pen.)	Report	45' Ait Khoursa

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Youssef Essrayri (Tunisia)

29 July 2017 (2017-07-29)

21:00

Zamalek	2–1	Al-Nassr
Emam 1' Hamdy 37'	Report	11' Pereira

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Mahmoud Ismail (referee) (Sudan)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Espérance de Tunis	3	3	0	0	6	2	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Al-Merrikh	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
3	Al-Hilal	3	0	2	1	5	6	−1	2
4	Naft Al-Wasat	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Source: Soccerway

24 July 2017 (2017-07-24)

18:00

Naft Al-Wasat	0–1	Espérance de Tunis
	Report	83' Khenissi

Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Ali Lemghaifry (Mauritania)

24 July 2017 (2017-07-24)

21:00

Al-Merrikh	1–1	Al-Hilal
Al-Madina 71'	Report	26' Al-Dawsari

Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria)

---

27 July 2017 (2017-07-27)

18:00

Al-Hilal	2–2	Naft Al-Wasat
Al-Qahtani 52' Zabani 58'	Report	45+2' Ahmed 80' Sadir

Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Redouane Jiyed (Morocco)

27 July 2017 (2017-07-27)

21:00

Espérance de Tunis	2–0	Al-Merrikh
Badri 21', 70'	Report

Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Ibrahim Nour El Din (Egypt)

---

30 July 2017 (2017-07-30)

18:00

Espérance de Tunis	3–2	Al-Hilal
Matri 45' Jouini 58' Chaalali 74'	Report	49' Al-Yami 60' Al-Rashidi

Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)

30 July 2017 (2017-07-30)

21:00

Al-Merrikh	2–1	Naft Al-Wasat
Abdul-Rahman 23' (pen.) Osunwa 89'	Report	2' Ahmed

Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Yaqoub Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates)

Ranking of second-placed teams

The highest ranked second-placed team from the groups advanced to the knockout stage; the rest were eliminated.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Al-Ahly	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	B	Al-Ahed	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
3	C	Al-Merrikh	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4

Source: Soccerway

Knockout stage

Matches were determined by a random draw.

	Semi-finals				Final
	2 August – Alexandria
	Al-Ahly	1
					6 August – Alexandria
	Al-Faisaly	2
					Al-Faisaly	2
	3 August – Alexandria
					Espérance de Tunis (a.e.t.)	3
	Fath Union Sport	1
	Espérance de Tunis (a.e.t.)	2

Semi-finals

2 August 2017 (2017-08-02)

20:00

Al-Faisaly	2-1	Al-Ahly
26' Mendy 37' (o.g.) Fathy	Report	Azaro 90+9'

Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Ali Lemghaifry (Mauritania)

3 August 2017 (2017-08-03)

20:00

Fath Union Sport	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Espérance de Tunis
Semmoumy 28'	Report	47' Chemmam 95' (pen.) Khenissi

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)

Final

Main article: 2017 Arab Club Championship Final

6 August 2017 (2017-08-06)

20:00

Al-Faisaly	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Espérance de Tunis
Zuway 72' Attiah 88'	Report	46', 54' Bguir 101' Dhaouadi

Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Ibrahim Nour El Din (Egypt)

Top scorers

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mohamed Fouzair	Fath Union Sport	3
2	Amr Barakat	Al-Ahly	2
	Ziyad Ahmed	Naft Al-Wasat
	Akram Zuway	Al-Faisaly
	Dominique Mendy	Al-Faisaly
	Mohamad Haidar	Al-Ahed
	Lamine Diakité	Fath Union Sport
	Kelechi Osunwa	Al-Merrikh
	Bakri Al-Madina	Al-Merrikh
	Anice Badri	Espérance de Tunis
	Saad Bguir	Espérance de Tunis
	Taha Yassine Khenissi	Espérance de Tunis

Prize money

UAFA announced that the winner will receive $2.5 million, while $600,000 will go to the runner-up and the losing semi-finalists will each get $200,000.^[6][7]

Media

The tournament gained international coverage for being the first football tournament to be broadcast live on Twitter, with all 21 matches from the group stage and knockout stage being shown for free on the competition's official Twitter account.^[8]

Broadcasting

Territory	Channel
Egypt	ONTV
Saudi Arabia	Al-Riyadiah
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi TV

Notes

1. Not including the cancelled 1990 edition.