Ten facts from the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League 2025/26 season so far
The final of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League 2025/26 will be staged between Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Morocco’s AS FAR, with the first leg in Pretoria on Sunday, 17 May (kick-off 16h00 local time | 14h00 GMT).
The return fixture will be played in Rabat on Sunday, 24 May (21h00 local time | 19h00 GMT), where the champions for this campaign will be crowned.
Ahead of the final, we pick out 10 interesting facts from the season to date.
Both teams finished second in their pool
Both Sundowns and AS FAR were runners-up in their pools, an unusual anomaly for the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
AS FAR finished second behind Al Ahly in Group B, having taken nine points from their six games after two wins, three draws and a single defeat.
Sundowns had exactly the same record and were second in Group C behind Sudanese side Al Hilal.
Low scorers
AS FAR managed three goals in the pool stage, with only Nigerian side Rivers United (2) and Algeria’s JS Kabylie (1) managing fewer among the 16 teams in the four groups.
But conversely, AS FAR conceded only two goals, the joint-best record among all the clubs, alongside Egypt’s Pyramids FC and Stade Malien.
Sundowns scored nine goals, the second-highest tally after Pyramids (14), but conceded six times. No side that advanced to the quarter-finals conceded more goals.
No group winner reached the semi-finals
Another oddity of this season is the fact that none of the four group winners reached the semi-finals of the competition.
Defending champions Pyramids (Group A) were beaten by AS FAR in the last eight, losing the second leg of their tie 2-1. It was the Egyptians’ first defeat in the competition in 16 games … since a 2-0 defeat to AS FAR in April 2025.
Al Ahly (Group B) fell to Esperance from Tunisia, Al Hilal (Group C) went down to RS Berkane from Morocco, and Stade Malien (Group D) were beaten by Sundowns.
Neither finalist has lost at home
Sundowns and AS FAR have both gone unbeaten at home through the campaign, a record that will be tested in the final.
Sundowns have played six home matches and won five to go with a single draw. They have scored 13 goals and conceded three. The Brazilians have not lost any of their last 13 home games in the competition (W8 D5).
AS FAR have played seven home games and won five to go with two draws. They have managed 11 goals and conceded three. Coincidentally, they are also unbeaten in their last 13 home matches in the competition (W9 D4).
In fact, the only team to beat them at home since 2006 is Tunisian side Etoile du Sahel, who have managed it twice.
Brayan León has become the late-season weapon
Colombian striker Brayan León has scored five goals in eight Champions League appearances for Sundowns this season since joining the club in January, all of them coming in his last five matches in the competition.
He scored twice against MC Alger, once against Stade Malien, and then got the decisive goals in both legs of the semi-final against Esperance.
In doing so, León became only the third player on record since 2016/17 to score in four consecutive CAF Champions League starts, after Walid Soliman (Al Ahly) in 2018 and Ayoub El Kaabi (Wydad Casablanca) between 2019 and 2021.
Safe hands of Ahmed Tagnaouti
No goalkeeper has made more saves in the competition than AS FAR’s Ahmed Tagnaouti, who is level with Al Ahly’s Mostafa Shobeir on 25 saves.
Tagnaouti’s 83% save percentage is the best among goalkeepers with at least four appearances.
With Sundowns’ potent attack, he will be key again for AS FAR in the final.
Fourth final for Sundowns
Sundowns have reached the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League final for the fourth time in the club’s history and for the second year in a row after previous appearances in 2001, 2016 and 2025.
They lost in 2001 to Al Ahly, beat Egyptian side Zamalek in 2016 and lost to Pyramids last season. This will be the first time they play opposition not from Egypt.
AS FAR will play a first final in the competition since 1985, when they beat AS Bilima from then Zaire, now DR Congo, in the final. They won the first leg 5-2 at home and drew the second 1-1 away.
Penalty joy
Sundowns won a penalty in a CAF Champions League game for the first time since March 2024, against TP Mazembe in the group stages, in their semi-final second leg against Esperance, ending a run of 25 games without a single penalty taken.
It was their first penalty in the knockout stage of the competition since April 2022, against Petro de Luanda in the quarter-finals.
RS Berkane have won the most penalties in the CAF Champions League this season (4), converting three of them. The last side to score 3+ penalty goals in a single campaign in the competition was Petro de Luanda in 2021/22, also with three.
A record payday is on the line
The TotalEnergies CAF Champions League 2025/26 winners will receive USD 6 million as a first prize, up from USD 4 million, a 50% increase.
The winners’ prize has risen from USD 2.5 million in 2021 to USD 6 million now, a 140% increase in five years. When Dr Patrice Motsepe took over as CAF President in 2021, he vowed to continue investing in CAF interclub football to grow the game on the continent.
Record participation
There were a record 62 clubs entered in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League this season, up from 54 in the 2023/24 season.
This is no doubt due to the USD 100,000 given to clubs who exit in the preliminary stage, easing the financial burden on them taking part. This is exactly why CAF introduced the subvention: to grow participation.