The 2020–21 CAF Champions League (officially the 2020–21 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 57th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 25th edition under the current CAF Champions League title.
Al Ahly successfully defended their title and defeated Kaizer Chiefs 3–0 in the final, which was played at Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, Morocco, winning their record-extending tenth and second consecutive title.
As the winners of the 2020–21 CAF Champions League, Al Ahly represented Africa in the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup, and played against Raja Casablanca, the winners of the 2020–21 CAF Confederation Cup, in the 2021–22 CAF Super Cup.
Association team allocation
All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Champions League, 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 – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2020–21 CAF Champions League, 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:
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 54 teams from 42 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 which did not enter a team
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 28–29 November (second legs), and the first round, originally scheduled for 11–13 December (first legs) and 18–20 December (second legs).
The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows.
Qualifying rounds
Preliminary round
First 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.