2017 CAF Confederation Cup

The 2017 CAF Confederation Cup (officially the 2017 Total CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons)^[1] was the 14th edition of the CAF Confederation Cup, Africa's secondary club football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

2017 CAF Confederation Cup

2017 Total CAF Confederation Cup
Tournament details
Dates	10 February – 25 November 2017
Teams	52+16 (from 40 associations)
Final positions
Champions	TP Mazembe (2nd title)
Runners-up	Supersport United
Tournament statistics
Matches played	162
Goals scored	369 (2.28 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ben Malango (6 goals)
← 2016 2018 →

Starting from this season, the group stage was expanded from eight to 16 teams, divided into four groups of four, and the knockout stage expanded from 4 to 8 teams.^[2][3]

Defending champions TP Mazembe, which entered the Confederation Cup after losing in the 2017 CAF Champions League first round, defeated Supersport United in the final, and earned the right to play against the winners of the 2017 CAF Champions League in the 2018 CAF Super Cup.^[4]

Association team allocation

All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Confederation Cup, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition.^[4] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament (plus 16 teams eliminated from the CAF Champions League which enter the play-off round) – although this level has never been reached.

For the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF uses the 2011–2015 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:^[5]

	CAF Champions League	CAF Confederation Cup
Winners	5 points	4 points
Runners-up	4 points	3 points
Losing semi-finalists	3 points	2 points
3rd place in groups	2 points	1 point
4th place in groups	1 point	1 point

The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:

• 2015 – 5
• 2014 – 4
• 2013 – 3
• 2012 – 2
• 2011 – 1

Teams

The following 52 teams from 40 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 2011–2015 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.

Association	Team	Qualifying method
Associations eligible to enter two teams (Ranked 1–12)
Tunisia (1st – 100 pts)	CS Sfaxien	2015–16 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third place
	Club Africain	2015–16 Tunisian Cup runners-up
Egypt (2nd – 80 pts)	Smouha	2015–16 Egyptian Premier League third place
	Al-Masry	2015–16 Egyptian Premier League fourth place
DR Congo (3rd – 69 pts)	SM Sanga Balende	2015–16 Linafoot third place
	Renaissance du Congo	2016 Coupe du Congo DR winners
Algeria (4th – 64 pts)	JS Kabylie	2015–16 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third place
	MC Alger	2015–16 Algerian Cup winners
Sudan (5th – 51 pts)	Al-Ahly Shendi	2016 Sudan Premier League third place
	El-Hilal El-Obeid	2016 Sudan Cup runners-up
South Africa (6th – 27 pts)	Platinum Stars	2015–16 South African Premier Division third place
	SuperSport United	2015–16 Nedbank Cup winners
Congo (T-7th – 24 pts)	Étoile du Congo	2016 Congo Ligue 1 third place
	CARA Brazzaville	2016 Coupe du Congo runners-up
Morocco (T-7th – 24 pts)	IR Tanger	2015–16 Botola third place
	MAS Fez	2016 Coupe du Trône winners
Ivory Coast (T-9th – 23 pts)	SC Gagnoa	2015–16 Côte d'Ivoire Ligue 1 third place
	ASEC Mimosas	2016 Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire runners-up
Mali (T-9th – 23 pts)	Djoliba	2016 Malian Première Division third place
	Onze Créateurs	2016 Malian Cup winners
Cameroon (11th – 19 pts)	Yong Sports Academy	2016 Elite One third place
	APEJES Academy	2016 Cameroonian Cup winners
Nigeria (12th – 12 pts)	Wikki Tourists	2016 Nigeria Professional Football League third place
	Ifeanyi Ubah	2016 Nigerian FA Cup winners
Associations eligible to enter one team
Angola (13th – 7 pts)	Recreativo do Libolo	2016 Taça de Angola winners
Ghana (T-14th – 4 pts)	Bechem United	2016 Ghanaian FA Cup winners
Libya (T-14th – 4 pts)	Al-Hilal Benghazi	2016 Libyan Cup runners-up
Zambia (T-14th – 4 pts)	ZESCO United	2016 Zambia Super League runners-up
Ethiopia (17th – 3 pts)	Defence Force	2016 Ethiopian Cup runners-up
Botswana	Orapa United	2015–16 Mascom Top 8 Cup winners
Burkina Faso	AS SONABEL	2016 Coupe du Faso runners-up
Burundi	Le Messager Ngozi	2016 Burundian Cup winners
Comoros	Volcan Club	2016 Comoros Cup winners
Equatorial Guinea	Racing de Micomeseng	2016 Equatoguinean Cup winners
Gabon	Akanda	2016 Coupe du Gabon Interclubs runners-up
Guinea	AS Kaloum	2016 Guinée Coupe Nationale runners-up
Kenya	Ulinzi Stars	2016 FKF President's Cup runners-up
Liberia	Monrovia Club Breweries	2016 Liberian Cup winners
Madagascar	ASSM Elgeco Plus	2016 Coupe de Madagascar runners-up
Mauritius	Pamplemousses	2016 Mauritian Cup winners
Mozambique	UD Songo	2016 Taça de Moçambique winners
Niger	AS Douanes Niamey	2016 Niger Cup winners
Rwanda	Rayon Sports	2016 Rwandan Cup winners
Senegal	ASC Niarry Tally	2016 Senegal FA Cup winners
Seychelles	St Michel United	2016 Seychelles FA Cup winners
Sierra Leone	RSLAF	2016 Sierra Leonean FA Cup runners-up
South Sudan	Wau Salaam	2016 South Sudan National Cup winners
Swaziland	Mbabane Swallows	2016 Swazi Cup winners
Tanzania	Azam	2015–16 Tanzania FA Cup runners-up
Uganda	Vipers	2016 Ugandan Cup winners
Zanzibar	KVZ	2015–16 Zanzibar Premier League runners-up
Zimbabwe	Ngezi Platinum	2016 Cup of Zimbabwe winners

A further 16 teams eliminated from the 2017 CAF Champions League enter the play-off round.

Losers of the 2017 CAF Champions League first round
Rail Club du Kadiogo	Rivers United	AS Tanda	Horoya
FUS Rabat	KCCA	CF Mounana	Young Africans
Barrack Young Controllers	Enugu Rangers	Gambia Ports Authority	CNaPS Sport
Bidvest Wits	TP Mazembe	AC Léopards	AS Port-Louis 2000

Associations which did not enter a team

• Benin
• Cape Verde
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Djibouti
• Eritrea
• Gambia
• Guinea-Bissau
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Mauritania
• Namibia
• Réunion
• São Tomé and Príncipe
• Somalia
• Togo

Notably one team takes part in the competition that does not currently play in their national top-division. They are MAS Fez (2nd tier).

CS Sfaxien

Club Africain

Smouha

Al-Masry

Sanga Balende

Renaissance

JS Kabylie

MC Alger

Al-Ahly

El-Hilal

Platinum S

Gauteng

Brazzaville

IR Tanger

MAS Fez

Gagnoa

ASEC

Bamako

Yong S

APEJES

Wikki T

I Ubah

Libolo

Bechem U

Al-Hilal

ZESCO

Defence F

Orapa U

Ouagadougou

Le Messager

Volcan

Micomeseng

Akanda

Conakry

Ulinzi S

Monrovia

ASSM Elgeco

CNaPS Sport

Pamplemousses
Port-Louis

Songo

Douanes

Rayon S

Niarry Tally

St Michel U

RSLAF

Wau Salaam

Swallows

Dar es Salaam

Kampala

KVZ

Ngezi Platinum

FUS Rabat

Rivers U

Enugu R

Mazembe

Tanda

Mounana

Ports Authority

Léopards

Conakry teams
Kaloum
Horoya

Monrovia teams
Breweries
BYC

Bamako teams
Djoliba
Onze Créateurs

Brazzaville teams
Étoile
CARA

Ouagadougou teams
SONABEL
Rail Kadiogo

Dar es Salaam teams
Azam
Young Africans

Gauteng teams
SuperSport United
Bidvest Wits

Kampala teams
Vipers
KCCA

Location of teams of the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup.
Italics: Teams transferred from the 2017 CAF Champions League
Red: Preliminary round; Green: First Round; Purple: Play-off Round;
Brown: Group A; Orange: Group B; Yellow: Group C; Blue: Group D.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (matches scheduled in midweek in italics).^[6][7]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	Preliminary round	21 December 2016 (Cairo, Egypt)	10–12 February 2017	17–19 February 2017
	First round		10–12 March 2017	17–19 March 2017
	Play-off round	21 March 2017 (Cairo, Egypt)	7–9 April 2017	14–16 April 2017
Group stage	Matchday 1	26 April 2017 (Cairo, Egypt)	12–14 May 2017
	Matchday 2		23–24 May 2017
	Matchday 3		2–4 June 2017
	Matchday 4		20–21 June 2017
	Matchday 5		30 June – 2 July 2017
	Matchday 6		7–9 July 2017
Knockout stage	Quarter-finals		15–17 September 2017	22–24 September 2017
	Semi-finals		29 September – 1 October 2017	20–22 October 2017
	Final		17–19 November 2017	24–26 November 2017

The calendar was amended from the original one for the following dates:^[7]

• Quarter-finals first leg: moved from 8–10 September to 15–17 September
• Quarter-finals second leg: moved from 15–17 September to 22–24 September
• Semi-finals second leg: moved from 13–15 October to 20–22 October

Qualifying rounds

Main article: 2017 CAF Confederation Cup qualifying rounds

The draw for the preliminary round and first round was held on 21 December 2016 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.^[8][9] 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).^[4]

Preliminary round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Monrovia Club Breweries	3–4	JS Kabylie	3–0	0–4
Étoile du Congo	3–0	Racing de Micomeseng	2–0	1–0
Ifeanyi Ubah	1–1 (0–3 p)	Al-Masry	1–0	0–1
Defence Force	1–2	Yong Sports Academy	1–0	0–2
AS Douanes Niamey	1–3	IR Tanger	1–2	0–1
ASSM Elgeco Plus	1–2	SuperSport United	0–0	1–2
Akanda	0–1	Renaissance du Congo	0–0	0–1
Bechem United	3–5	MC Alger	2–1	1–4
RSLAF	2–1	Wikki Tourists	2–0	0–1
Platinum Stars	2–0	UD Songo	1–0	1–0
Vipers	1–1 (a)	Volcan Club	0–0	1–1
Orapa United	2–4	Mbabane Swallows	0–1	2–3
KVZ	2–4	Le Messager Ngozi	2–1	0–3
APEJES Academy	2–2 (a)	ASC Niarry Tally	1–0	1–2
Wau Salaam	0–6	Rayon Sports	0–4	0–2
AS SONABEL	0–3	SC Gagnoa	0–0	0–3
MAS Fez	3–2	CARA Brazzaville	3–0	0–2
Pamplemousses	1–2	Ngezi Platinum	1–1	0–1
Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid	3–0	St Michel United	2–0	1–0
Al-Hilal Benghazi	1–1 (4–5 p)	Ulinzi Stars	1–0	0–1

First round

The 16 winners of the first round advanced to the play-off round, where they were joined by the 16 losers of the Champions League first round.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Étoile du Congo	0–1	JS Kabylie	0–0	0–1
Djoliba	w/o[w/o 1]	Al-Masry	2–0	—
CS Sfaxien	6–1	Yong Sports Academy	5–0	1–1
AS Kaloum	1–3	IR Tanger	1–0	0–3
Al-Ahly Shendi	3–6	SuperSport United	3–2	0–4
MC Alger	3–2	Renaissance du Congo	2–0	1–2
Club Africain	w/o[w/o 2]	RSLAF	9–1	—
Vipers	2–3	Platinum Stars	1–0	1–3
Azam	1–3	Mbabane Swallows	1–0	0–3
ZESCO United	4–2	Le Messager Ngozi	2–0	2–2
ASEC Mimosas	2–1	APEJES Academy	2–0	0–1
Onze Créateurs	w/o[w/o 1]	Rayon Sports	1–0	—
MAS Fez	3–2	SC Gagnoa	3–1	0–1
Recreativo do Libolo	2–1	Ngezi Platinum	2–1	0–0
SM Sanga Balende	1–1 (3–5 p)	Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid	1–0	0–1
Smouha	4–3	Ulinzi Stars	4–0	0–3

Notes:

1. FIFA suspended the Malian Football Federation on 17 March 2017.^[10] As a result, both Djoliba and Onze Créateurs could not play the second leg, and their opponents Al-Masry and Rayon Sports won on walkover.^[11]
2. Club Africain won on walkover after RSLAF withdrew prior to the second leg.^[12]

Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 21 March 2017, 11:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.^[13][14] The winners of the Confederation Cup first round were drawn against the losers of the Champions League first round, with the teams from the Confederation Cup hosting the second leg.

The 16 winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Young Africans	1–4	MC Alger	1–0	0–4
TP Mazembe	2–0	JS Kabylie	2–0	0–0
AC Léopards	3–4	Mbabane Swallows	1–0	2–4
FUS Rabat	3–2	MAS Fez	2–1	1–1
Enugu Rangers	2–5	ZESCO United	2–2	0–3
CF Mounana	2–1	ASEC Mimosas	2–1	0–0
Rail Club du Kadiogo	1–4	CS Sfaxien	1–2	0–2
Bidvest Wits	0–1	Smouha	0–0	0–1
CNaPS Sport	1–1 (a)	Recreativo do Libolo	1–1	0–0
KCCA	1–1 (4–3 p)	Al-Masry	1–0	0–1
Gambia Ports Authority	1–4	Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid	1–1	0–3
AS Port-Louis 2000	3–6	Club Africain	1–2	2–4
Rivers United	2–0	Rayon Sports	2–0	0–0
Barrack Young Controllers	1–6	SuperSport United	1–1	0–5
AS Tanda	2–2 (4–5 p)	Platinum Stars	2–0	0–2
Horoya	4–3	IR Tanger	2–0	2–3

Group stage

Main article: 2017 CAF Confederation Cup group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 26 April 2017, 14:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.^[15][16][17] The 16 teams, all winners of the play-off round of qualifying, were drawn into four groups of four. The teams were seeded by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons (CAF 5-year ranking points shown in parentheses).^[18]

Pot	Pot 1	Pot 2
Teams	TP Mazembe (58 pts) CS Sfaxien (21 pts) ZESCO United (15 pts) FUS Rabat (12 pts)	Smouha (4 pts) Recreativo do Libolo (2 pts) MC Alger CF Mounana Horoya Rivers United Platinum Stars SuperSport United El-Hilal El-Obeid Mbabane Swallows Club Africain KCCA

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 quarter-finals of the knockout stage.

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations III. 20 & 21):[4] Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Away goals scored in all group matches; Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CAF	FUS	KCC	RIV
1	Club Africain	6	4	0	2	13	6	+7	12	Quarter-finals		—	2–1	4–0	3–1
2	FUS Rabat	6	3	0	3	9	8	+1	9[a]			2–1	—	3–0	2–1
3	KCCA	6	3	0	3	8	12	−4	9[a]			2–1	3–1	—	2–1
4	Rivers United	6	2	0	4	6	10	−4	6			0–2	1–0	2–1	—

Source: CAF
Notes:

1. Head-to-head results: FUS Rabat 3–0 KCCA, KCCA 3–1 FUS Rabat.

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CSS	MCA	MBS	PST
1	CS Sfaxien	6	4	1	1	13	4	+9	13	Quarter-finals		—	4–0	1–0	3–0
2	MC Alger	6	3	2	1	7	7	0	11			2–1	—	2–1	2–0
3	Mbabane Swallows	6	1	2	3	8	10	−2	5			1–3	0–0	—	4–2
4	Platinum Stars	6	0	3	3	6	13	−7	3			1–1	1–1	2–2	—

Source: CAF

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ZES	HLU	RLB	SMO
1	ZESCO United	6	3	1	2	6	5	+1	10[a]	Quarter-finals		—	3–0 (awd.)[b]	1–0	1–0
2	Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid	6	3	1	2	6	6	0	10[a]			1–0	—	2–0	2–1
3	Recreativo do Libolo	6	2	1	3	4	5	−1	7			3–0	1–0	—	0–0
4	Smouha	6	1	3	2	5	5	0	6			1–1	1–1	2–0	—

Source: CAF
Notes:

1. Head-to-head results: Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid 1–0 ZESCO United, ZESCO United 3–0 Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid.
2. FIFA suspended the Sudan Football Association on 7 July 2017.^[19] As a result, Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid could not play their final group match against ZESCO United, and the match was awarded as a 3–0 win to their opponents.^[20] Initially, Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid were disqualified from the CAF Confederation Cup,^[21] but following the lifting of the suspension on 13 July,^[22] they were reinstated to the competition, and advanced to the knockout stage instead of Recreativo do Libolo.^[20]

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		TPM	SSU	HOR	MOU
1	TP Mazembe	6	3	3	0	8	4	+4	12	Quarter-finals		—	2–2	2–1	2–0
2	SuperSport United	6	2	4	0	13	8	+5	10			0–0	—	2–2	4–1
3	Horoya	6	2	3	1	6	5	+1	9			1–1	0–0	—	1–0
4	CF Mounana	6	0	0	6	4	14	−10	0			0–1	3–5	0–1	—

Source: CAF

Knockout stage

Main article: 2017 CAF Confederation Cup knockout stage

In the knockout stage, the eight 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).^[4]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid	1	0	1
	TP Mazembe	2	5	7
							TP Mazembe	1	0	1
							FUS Rabat	0	0	0
	FUS Rabat	1	0	1 (5 p)
	CS Sfaxien	0	1	1 (4 p)
													TP Mazembe	2	0	2
													SuperSport United	1	0	1
	SuperSport United	0	2	2 (a)
	ZESCO United	0	2	2 (a)
							SuperSport United	1	3	4
							Club Africain	1	1	2
	MC Alger	1	0	1
	Club Africain	0	2	2

Quarter-finals

In the quarter-finals, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group, with the group winners hosting the second leg.^[4]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
MC Alger	1–2	Club Africain	1−0	0–2
SuperSport United	2–2 (a)	ZESCO United	0−0	2–2
FUS Rabat	1–1 (5–4 p)	CS Sfaxien	1−0	0−1
Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid	1–7	TP Mazembe	1−2	0–5

Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, the four quarter-final winners played in two ties, with the order of legs decided by an additional draw held after the group stage draw.^[16]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
SuperSport United	4−2	Club Africain	1−1	3−1
TP Mazembe	1−0	FUS Rabat	1−0	0−0

Final

Main article: 2017 CAF Confederation Cup 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.^[16]

19 November 2017 (2017-11-19)

15:30 UTC+2

TP Mazembe	2–1	SuperSport United
Traoré 19' Adjei 67'	Report	Mbule 48'

Stade TP Mazembe, Lubumbashi

Attendance: 19,000

Referee: Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria)

25 November 2017 (2017-11-25)

20:15 UTC+2

SuperSport United	0–0	TP Mazembe
	Report

Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium, Pretoria

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Malang Diedhiou (Senegal)

TP Mazembe won 2–1 on aggregate.

Top goalscorers

  Team eliminated / inactive for this round.

Rank	Player	Team	MD1	MD2	MD3	MD4	MD5	MD6	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	F1	F2	Total
1	Ben Malango	TP Mazembe		1	1				1	1	1				6
2	Jeremy Brockie	SuperSport United		2				2				1			5
	Sabelo Ndzinisa	Mbabane Swallows		4				1
	Hichem Nekkache	MC Alger		1		2	1		1
5	Saber Khalifa	Club Africain						1		1	1	1			4
	Thabo Mnyamane	SuperSport United		2				1			1
7	Karim Aouadhi	CS Sfaxien		1	1					1					3
	Firas Chaouat	CS Sfaxien					1	2
	Jean Francis Ebélé Dipita	Horoya	1	1				1
	Mohamed Fouzair	FUS Rabat			1	1		1
	Bradley Grobler	SuperSport United						1				2
	Manoubi Haddad	Club Africain					1	2
	Derrick Nsibambi	KCCA		1	2
	Thuso Phala	SuperSport United	1							2

See also

• 2017 CAF Champions League
• 2018 CAF Super Cup