The 2017 Arab Club Championship was the 27th season 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.
Allocation of entries The following team entries allocation was announced by the Union of Arab Football Associations on 20 June 2016. 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. 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 ChampionshipAllocated group stage slot(s)Allocated qualifying play-off slotDid not participate
+Asia ZoneRankMemberAssociationSlotsGroupstageQualifying play-offZoneAll 1 5 Saudi Arabia2000 2 6 United Arab Emirates1000 3 7 Jordan1000 4 8 Qatar0000 5 9 Oman0100 610 Syria0100 711 Iraq0100 812 Palestine0010 916 Bahrain00011017 Kuwait00001118 Lebanon00011220 Yemen0000Total4312610
+Africa ZoneRankMemberAssociationSlotsGroupstageQualifying play-offZoneAll 1 1 Algeria1000 2 2 Egypt2000 3 3 Tunisia1000 4 4 Morocco1000 513 Mauritania0100 614 Libya0000 715 Sudan0010 819 Comoros0001 921 Djibouti00011022 Somalia0001Total5113510
Notes
Teams The following 20 teams from 18 associations entered the competition.
+Asia ZoneTeamQualifying methodAppLast AppGroup stage entrants Al-Hilal2015–16 Saudi Professional League runners-up9th Al-Nassr2016 King Cup runners-up5th Al-Wahda2015–16 UAE League Cup winners1stnone Al-Faisaly2015–16 Jordan League runners-up12thPlay-off round entrants Fanja2015–16 Oman Professional League champions3rd1989 Al-Jaish2015–16 Syrian Premier League champions7th Naft Al-Wasat2015–16 Iraqi Premier League runners-up1stnonePreliminary round 2 entrants Shabab Al-Khalil2015–16 West Bank Premier League champions1stnonePreliminary round 1 entrants Al-Riffa2015–16 Bahraini King's Cup runners-up8th Al-Ahed2015–16 Lebanese Premier League runners-up2015–16 Lebanese FA Cup runners-up2nd
+Africa ZoneTeamQualifying methodAppLast AppGroup stage entrants NA Hussein Dey2015–16 Algerian Cup runners-up4th Al-Ahly2015–16 Egyptian Premier League champions2016 Egypt Cup runners-up7th Zamalek2016 Egypt Cup winners2015–16 Egyptian Premier League runners-up6th Espérance de Tunis2015–16 Tunisian Cup winners2015–16 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up7th Fath Union Sport2015–16 Botola champions2015 Coupe du Trône runners-up1stnonePlay-off round entrants FC Tevragh-Zeina2015–16 Ligue 1 Mauritania champions2016 Coupe du Président de la République winners2ndPreliminary round 2 entrants Al-Merrikh2016 Sudan Premier League runners-up10thPreliminary round 1 entrants Volcan Club2015 Comoros Premier League champions2016 Coupe des Comores winners1stnone ASAS Djibouti Télécom2015–16 Djibouti Premier League champions2016 Djibouti Cup winners1stnone Dekedaha2015–16 Somali First Division runners-up1stnone
Notes
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 Al Salam Stadium Capacity: 30,000
Schedule The schedule of the competition was as follows.
StageRoundDateQualifying play-offRound 114 September 2016 – 4 March 2017Round 2Play-off roundGroup stageMatchday 122 July – 6 August 2017Matchday 2Matchday 3Knockout stageSemi-finalsFinal
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
Africa Zone
Notes
Preliminary round 2
!colspan=5|Asia Zone
!colspan=5|Africa Zone
Play-off round
!colspan=5|Asia Zone
!colspan=5|Africa Zone
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. The top team of each group along with the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.
TiebreakersIf two or more teams were to be equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings would have been determined as follows:
Times listed are UTC+2.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking of second-placed teams The highest ranked second-placed team from the groups advanced to the knockout stage; the rest were eliminated.
Knockout stage Matches were determined by a random draw.
Semi-finals
Final
Top scorers Statistics exclude qualifying rounds. Rank Player Club Goals1 Mohamed Fouzair Fath Union Sport32 Amr Barakat Al-Ahly2 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.
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.
Broadcasting TerritoryChannelONTVAl-RiyadiahAbu Dhabi TV
Notes
References
External links UAFA Official website