The 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup, officially the 2019–20 Total CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, was the 17th season of CAF Confederation Cup and the 28th overall season of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
This is the second season to follow an August–to-May schedule, as per the decision of the CAF Executive Committee on 20 July 2017. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa caused the semi-finals and final of this season to be postponed until October 2020 and the final itself was played as a single match for the first time at a venue pre-selected by CAF, which was later revealed to be the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco.
The winners of this season's edition earned the right to play against the winners of the 2019–20 CAF Champions League in the 2020–21 CAF Super Cup. Zamalek were the title holders, but as they qualified for the group stage of the following season's CAF Champions League, they were not able to defend their title.
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. 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 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF uses the 2015–2019 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:
CAF Champions LeagueCAF Confederation CupWinners6 points5 pointsRunners-up5 points4 pointsLosing semi-finalists4 points3 pointsLosing quarter-finalists (from 2017)3 points2 points3rd place in groups2 points1 point4th place in groups1 point0.5 point
The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows: 2018–19 – 5 2018 – 4 2017 – 3 2016 – 2 2015 – 1
This was announced by the CAF on 4 June 2019, as using the previous scheme, it would be based on results from 2014 to 2018. The only change for the top 12 associations is that Tanzania is included while Ivory Coast is excluded.
Teams The following 53 teams from 42 associations entered the competition. Eleven teams (in bold) received a bye to the first round. The other 42 teams entered the preliminary round.
Associations are shown according to their 2015–2019 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
+Associations eligible to enter two teams (Ranked 1–12)AssociationTeamQualifying method CS Sfaxien2018–19 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third placeUS Ben Guerdane2018–19 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 fourth place Hassania Agadir2018–19 Botola third placeRS Berkane2018 Moroccan Throne Cup winners Pyramids2018–19 Egyptian Premier League third placeAl-Masry2018–19 Egyptian Premier League fourth place Paradou AC2018–19 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third placeCR Belouizdad2018–19 Algerian Cup winners DC Motema Pembe2018–19 Linafoot third placeAS Maniema Union2019 Coupe du Congo DR winners Bidvest Wits2018–19 South African Premier Division third placeTS Galaxy2018–19 Nedbank Cup winners Buildcon2019 Zambia Super League third placeZanaco2019 Zambia Super League fourth place Al-Ahly Shendi2018–19 Sudan Premier League third placeAl-Khartoum2018–19 Sudan Premier League fourth place Enugu Rangers2019 Nigeria Professional Football League third placeNiger Tornadoes2019 Nigeria Federation Cup runners-up Santoba2018–19 Guinée Championnat National third placeCI Kamsar2019 Guinée Coupe Nationale runners-up Azam2018–19 Tanzania FA Cup winnersKMC2018–19 Tanzanian Premier League fourth place +Associations eligible to enter one teamAssociationTeamQualifying method FC San Pédro2019 Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire winners Bandari2019 FKF President's Cup winners Étoile du Congo2018–19 Congo Ligue 1 runners-up Proline2019 Uganda Cup winners Al-Ittihad2018 Libyan Cup winners Ashanti Gold2019 GFA Normalization Committee Special Competition Tier 2 winners AS Kigali2019 Rwandan Cup winners Triangle United2018 Cup of Zimbabwe winners Young Buffaloes2019 Eswatini Cup winners Fasil Kenema2019 Ethiopian Cup winners Jwaneng Galaxy2018–19 Mascom Top 8 Cup winners Maranatha2018–19 Togolese Championnat National runners-up Stade Renard de Melong2019 Cameroonian Cup winners Djoliba2018 Malian Cup runners-up Salitas2018–19 Burkinabé Premier League runners-up AS Pélican2019 Gabon Championnat National D1 runners-upESAE2019 Benin Cup winnersRukinzo2019 Burundian Cup runners-upAS CotonTchad2019 Chad Premier League runners-upArta/Solar72019 Djibouti Cup winnersAkonangui2019 Equatoguinean Cup winnersLISCR2019 Liberian FA Cup winnersCNaPS Sport2019 Coupe de Madagascar runners-upMasters Security2018 Malawi Carlsberg Cup winnersASC Snim2019 Coupe du Président de la République winnersBolton City2019 Mauritian Cup winnersUSGN2019 Niger Cup runners-upSaint Louis Suns United2018–19 Seychelles FA Cup winnersMogadishu City2018 Somalia Cup winnersAmarat United2019 South Sudan National Cup winnersMalindi2019 Zanzibari Cup winners
A further 16 teams eliminated from the 2019–20 CAF Champions League enter the play-off round.
+ Al-Nasr Horoya ASC Kara Enyimba Gor Mahia Cano Sport Génération Foot Asante Kotoko KCCA Côte d'Or FC Nouadhibou Elect-Sport Young Africans Songo Green Eagles Fosa Juniors
Notes
Associations which did not enter a team
Associations which did not enter a team initially, but had a team transferred from Champions League
Schedule The schedule of the competition is as follows.
On 24 November 2019, CAF made a change to all fixtures dates starting from the group stage matchday 4 to the final, due to rescheduling of the 2020 African Nations Championship from January/February to April. The quarter-finals draw date was also changed.
Following the quarter-finals, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, the semi-finals, originally scheduled for 3 May (first legs) and 10 May (second legs), were postponed indefinitely on 11 April 2020, and the final, originally scheduled for 24 May, was also postponed on 18 April 2020. On 30 June 2020, the CAF Executive Committee proposed that the competition would resume with a Final Four format played as single matches in Morocco. On 3 August 2020, the CAF announced that the competition would resume with the semi-finals played on 22 September, and the final played on 27 September. On 10 September 2020, the CAF announced that at the request of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the semi-finals were rescheduled to 19–20 October, and the final to 25 October.
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingPreliminary round21 July 20199–11 August 201923–25 August 2019First round13–15 September 201927–29 September 2019Play-off round9 October 201927 October 20193 November 2019Group stageMatchday 112 November 20191 December 2019Matchday 28 December 2019Matchday 329 December 2019Matchday 412 January 2020Matchday 526 January 2020Matchday 62 February 2020Knockout stageQuarter-finals5 February 20201 March 20208 March 2020Semi-finals19–20 October 2020Final25 October 2020
Qualifying rounds
Preliminary round
First round
Play-off round
Group stage
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage. Tiebreakers Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerTeam Total1 Karim El Berkaoui Hassania Agadir1 3 31 82 Stanley Dimgba Enyimba 3 1 4 Mohamed Farouk Pyramids12 1 4 Alaedine Ajaray RS Berkane 3 3 Austin Amutu Al-Masry21 John Antwi Pyramids 11 1 Mohamed Aziz RS Berkane 1 2 Malick Cissé Hassania Agadir1 2 Boniface Haba Horoya 111 Rodgers Kola Zanaco 2 1 Vinny Kombe DC Motema Pembe 2 1 Hamdi Laachir RS Berkane1 1 1 Victor Mbaoma Enyimba 1 2 Augustine Oladapo Enyimba 111 Eric Traoré Pyramids 2 1
See also 2019–20 CAF Champions League 2020–21 CAF Super Cup
Notes
References
External links Total CAF Confederation Cup, CAFonline.com CAF Total Confederation Cup 2019/20