The 2020–21 CAF Confederation Cup (officially the 2020–21 Total CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th edition of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), under the current CAF Confederation Cup title after the merger of CAF Cup and African Cup Winners' Cup.

The winners of the 2020–21 CAF Confederation Cup will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2020–21 CAF Champions League in the 2021–22 CAF Super Cup.

RS Berkane were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

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 2020–21 CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF uses the 2016–2020 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: 2019–20: × 5 2018–19: × 4 2018: × 3 2017: × 2 2016: × 1

Teams Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, associations may abandon their domestic competitions and select the representatives in CAF club competitions. Associations may register their representatives during the engagement window between 1 September and 20 October 2020. All engaged teams must respect the Club Licensing procedure and cooperate with their respective Associations, as non-licensed clubs would be refused participation.

The following 51 teams from 39 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 2016–2020 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score (in parentheses) indicated.

+Associations eligible to enter two teams (Top 12 associations)AssociationRank TeamQualifying method1 RS BerkaneTitle holders (2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup winners)2019–20 Botola third placeTAS Casablanca2018–19 Moroccan Throne Cup winners2 Pyramids2019–20 Egyptian Premier League third placeAl Mokawloon Al Arab2019–20 Egyptian Premier League fourth place3 US Monastir2019–20 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third placeÉtoile du Sahel2019–20 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 fourth place4 AS Maniema Union2019–20 Linafoot third placeDC Motema Pembe2019–20 Linafoot fourth place5 ES Sétif2019–20 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third placeJS Kabylie2019–20 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 fourth place6 Orlando Pirates2019–20 South African Premier Division third placeBloemfontein Celtic2019–20 Nedbank Cup runners-up7 Green Eagles2019–20 Zambian Super League third placeNAPSA Stars2019–20 Zambian Super League fourth place8 Rivers United2019–20 Nigeria Professional Football League third place by points per game at time of abandonmentKano Pillars2019 Nigeria FA Cup9 AS Kaloum Star2019–20 Guinée Championnat National third place after 13 roundsCI Kamsar2019 Guinée Coupe Nationale runners-up10 Bravos do Maquis2019–20 Girabola third place at time of abandonmentSagrada Esperança2019–20 Angola Cup semi-finalists11 El Hilal El Obeid2019–20 Sudan Premier League third placeAl Amal Atbara2019–20 Sudan Premier League fourth place12 Al Ahli Tripoli2017–18 Libyan Premier League third placeAl Ittihad2018 Libyan Cup winners +Associations eligible to enter one teamAssociationRank TeamQualifying method13 Namungo2019–20 Tanzania FA Cup runners-up14 FC San Pédro2019–20 Côte d'Ivoire Ligue 1 runners-up17 UD Songo2019 Taça de Moçambique winners18 Étoile du Congo2019 Coupe du Congo winners18 KCCA2019–20 Uganda Premier League runners-up20 Ashanti Gold2019 GFA Normalization Committee Special Competition Tier 2 winners20 Yeelen Olympique2019–20 Malian Première Division runners-up22 AS Kigali2019 Rwandan Cup winners23 Mbabane Swallows2019–20 Eswatini Premier League runners-up24 Fasil Kenema2019 Ethiopian Cup winners25 Orapa United2019–20 Mascom Top 8 Cup winners25 UFC Sokodé2019–20 Togolese Championnat National runners-up27 ESAE2019 Benin Cup winners27 Tevragh-Zeina2020 Coupe du Président de la République winners29 Salitas2018–19 Burkinabé Premier League runners-up29 Coton Sport2019–20 Elite One runners-up—Musongati2020 Burundian Cup winners—Renaissance2020 Chad Premier League runners-up—Ngazi Sport2020 Comoros Cup runners-up—Arta/Solar72020 Djibouti Cup winners—Futuro Kings2019–20 Equatoguinean Primera División Región Continental second place at time of abandonment—GAMTEL2019–20 GFA League First Division third place at time of abandonment—USGN2019 Niger Cup runners-up—ASC Jaraaf2019–20 Senegal Premier League second place at time of abandonment—Horseed2019 Somalia Cup winners—Al Rabita2020 South Sudan National Cup winners—KVZ2020 Zanzibari Cup winners

A further 16 teams eliminated from the 2020–21 CAF Champions League enter the play-off round.

+ Stade Malien Raja Casablanca RC Abidjan AS SONIDEP Al Ahly Benghazi Gazelle AS Bouenguidi Jwaneng Galaxy Young Buffaloes 1º de Agosto Enyimba Asante Kotoko CS Sfaxien Nkana FC Platinum Gor Mahia

Associations which did not enter a team

Associations which did not enter a team initially, but had a team transferred from Champions League

(Rank: 31 ) (Rank: 15 ) (Rank: 15 )

Notes

Schedule The start of the competition was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 1 September 2020, the CAF announced the new schedule. On 10 September 2020, the CAF decided to further delay the preliminary round, originally scheduled for 20–22 November (first legs) and 27–29 November (second legs), and the first round, originally scheduled for 11–13 December (first legs) and 18–20 December (second legs).

+Schedule for 2020–21 CAF Confederation CupPhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingPreliminary round9 November 202027–29 November 20204–6 December 2020First round22–23 December 20205–6 January 2021Play-off round8 January 202114 February 202121 February 2021Group stageMatchday 122 February 202110 March 2021Matchday 217 March 2021Matchday 34 April 2021Matchday 411 April 2021Matchday 521 April 2021Matchday 628 April 2021Knockout stageQuarter-finals30 April 202116 May 202123 May 2021Semi-finals20 June 202127 June 2021Final10 July 2021

The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows.

+PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingPreliminary roundTBD 20207–9 August 202021–23 August 2020First round11–13 September 202025–27 September 2020Play-off round7 October 202025 October 20201 November 2020Group stageMatchday 14 November 202027–29 November 2020Matchday 24–6 December 2020Matchday 38–10 January 2021Matchday 422–24 January 2021Matchday 55–7 February 2021Matchday 612–14 February 2021Knockout stageQuarter-finals17 February 20215–7 March 202119–21 March 2021Semi-finals9–11 April 202123–25 April 2021Final23 May 2021

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 winners and runners-up of each group will 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 Ben Malango Raja Casablanca 11 12 162 Soufiane Rahimi Raja Casablanca11 1 1 153 Lambert Araina Coton Sport 1 11 1 4 Ibrahim Adel Pyramids 121 5 Zaka JS Kabylie 213 Rédha Bensayah JS Kabylie 1 11 Sibiri Sanou Coton Sport 1 1 1 Hamza Lahmar Étoile du Sahel2 1 Doisy Soko NAPSA Stars 1 11 Papa Youssou Paye ASC Jaraaf 111 Augustine Oladapo Enyimba111

See also 2020–21 CAF Champions League 2022 CAF Super Cup

References

External links CAFonline.com