The 16 teams in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Group Stage draw
The draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Cup group stages will take place in Johannesburg on Monday, 3 November, when the 16 teams remaining in the competition will learn their fate.
Ahead of that draw, which begins at 14h00 local time (12h00 GMT), we take a brief look at the clubs who will be present in this year’s group stages.
AL AHLY (EGYPT)
African football’s most successful club have won the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League 12 times, including four of ther last six editions, and this is an astonishing 23rd time they have qualified for the group phase. The Cairo giants won 2-0 on aggregate over Aigle Noir of Burundi to qualify this time as their new Danish coach Jess Thorup settles into the job.
AL HILAL (SUDAN)
Sudan’s most successful side have overcome their exile from their strife-torn country to again qualify for the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group phase. It is 14th time in total and seventh edition in a row. Al Hilal will be playing in the Rwanda league this season to keep competitive and see if they can reach the final again after two previous appearances in 1987 and 1992.
ESPERANCE (TUNISIA)
The TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group phase has rarely been without the Tunisian giants, who have won the competition four times in 1994, 2011, 2018 and 2019. This is the 23rd time that ‘Sang et Or’ are in the group phase – a record they share with Al Ahly – and 10th edition in a row. They were one of the four teams that represented Africa in the FIFA Club World Cup in June.
FAR RABAT (MOROCCO)
Last season, the military side competed in the group stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League for only the second time and reached the quarter-finals. FAR’s only previous group appearance was in 2007 but they are former continental champions, winning in 1985. Their Portuguese coach Alexandre dos Santos has previous experience with Petro de Luanda.
JS KABYLIE (ALGERIA)
JSK are two time past winners of the continent’s top club prize but that was in 1981 and 1990 and they have since struggled to reclaim past glories. This is the sixth time the club from Tizi-Ouzou have qualified for the group stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, three years after their last appearance where they finished third in their group.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS (SOUTH AFRICA)
This will be the 11th successive time that Sundowns feature in the group phase and only once have they not advanced to the knockout stages. But they have only won the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League once and since their 2016 triumph they have not been able to win the title again, finishing runners-up to Pyramids last season.
MC ALGER (ALGERIA)
Next year will mark a half century since Mouloudia Alger were winners of the old-style African Champions Cup, their only success in the continent’s top competition. It is a second successive year that the club from the Algerian capital are in the group stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League. Last season they reached the quarter-finals.
PETRO DE LUANDA (ANGOLA)
After surprisingly missing out last season, Petro are back in the group phase the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League for a sixth time in the last seven years. The Angolan club, who appointed Spaniard Franc Artiga as their coach before the start of this campaign, reached the semi-finals in 2021-22 season, which is their best return in the competition.
POWER DYNAMOS (ZAMBIA)
Zambia’s Copperbelt has long been a hot bed of talented footballers and Kitwe based Power Dynamos one of the leading teams. But this will be their debut in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group phase and the first appearance by a Zambian club since 2020. Dynamos won the African Cup Winners’ Cup in 1991.
PYRAMIDS (EGYPT)
The club from newly built suburbs of Cairo broke the traditional Egyptian duo ploy of Al Ahly and Zamalek to win a first ever TotalEnergies CAF Champions League title last season. They have had a busy season already with success in the TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup and they will represent the continent in next month’s FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
RIVERS UNITED (NIGERIA)
The club from Port Harcourt are through to the group phase for the first time in their four attempt in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, in which they first participated in 2017. They are also first Nigerian club to reach the group phase since Lobi Stars in 2019 after narrowly overcoming Black Bulls of Mozambique 3-2 on aggregate in their second round tie.
RS BERKANE (MOROCCO)
Renaissance Berkane were winners of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup last season when they defeated Simba in the decider, which was the third time they had won the trophy. This season, however, is the first time they are participating in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League after winning a first ever league title in Morocco.
SIMBA (TANZANIA)
This will be the sixth time that the Dar-es-Salaam club, who were runners-up in last season’s TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup, compete in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group phase and the second time they do so at the same time as their great domestic rivals Young Africans. Both were also in the group competition two editions ago and went onto the 2023-24 quarter-finals.
STADE MALIEN (MALI)
After playing in the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup group phase last season, the Bamako club have taken a step up and reached the business end of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League for the first time. They had been in the Champions League 19 times before finally making the group phase as they overcame Mauritania’s Nouadhibou 3-1 on aggregate in the second round.
ST ELOI LUPOPO (DR CONGO)
The Lubumbashi-based club have long lived in the shadow of their neighbours TP Mazembe but are in the group stage for a first time at their fifth attempt. This season was the first time they have participated in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League since 2006 and eliminating Orlando Pirates of South Africa in the second round was the upset result of the preliminary knockout rounds.
YOUNG AFRICANS (TANZANIA)
Yanga edged past Silver Strikers of Malawi to reach the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group phase for a third time in a row and fourth in total. Last season they finished third in their group but in 2023-24 edition reached the quarter-finals and were only eliminated on post-match penalties. The Dar-es-Salaam-based club have appointed former Angola boss Pedro Goncalves as their new coach.