2019–20 CAF Champions League knockout stage

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The 2019–20 CAF Champions League knockout stage began on 28 February with the quarter-finals and ended on 27 November 2020 with the final to decide the champions of the 2019–20 CAF Champions League. A total of eight teams competed in the knockout stage.[1]

Times are GMT as listed by CAF (local times, even if not different, are in parentheses).

Round and draw dates[edit]

The schedule was as follows.

Following the quarter-finals, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, the semi-finals, originally scheduled for 1–2 May (first legs) and 8–9 May (second legs), were postponed indefinitely on 11 April 2020,[2] and the final, originally scheduled for 29 May, was also postponed on 18 April 2020.[3] On 30 June 2020, the CAF Executive Committee proposed that the competition would resume with a Final Four format played as single matches in a host country to be decided.[4] However, these plans were later halted after the Cameroonian Football Federation withdrew from hosting the Final Four, and the CAF decided against hosting it in either Egypt or Morocco in the principle of fairness. On 3 August 2020, the CAF announced that the competition would resume in its original format with the semi-finals played on 25–26 September (first legs) and 2–3 October (second legs), and the final played on 16 or 17 October.[5] On 10 September 2020, the CAF announced that at the request of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the semi-finals were rescheduled to 17–18 October (first legs) and 23–24 October (second legs), and the final to 6 November.[6] On 22 October 2020, the CAF announced that the semi-final second leg between Zamalek and Raja Casablanca, originally scheduled to be played on 24 October, was postponed to 1 November, due to Raja Casablanca being required by Moroccan authorities to self-isolate until 27 October after eight players testing positive for the COVID-19 virus, with the total number of cases increasing to fourteen the following day.[7] On 30 October 2020, the CAF announced that this match was further postponed to 4 November, the final postponed to 27 November.[8]

Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Quarter-finals 5 February 2020 28–29 February 2020 6–7 March 2020
Semi-finals 17–18 October 2020 23 October & 4 November 2020
Final 27 November 2020

Format[edit]

In the knockout stage, the quarter-finals and semi-finals were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was not played and the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out.

In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was also not to be played and the winners would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[1]

The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:

  • In the draw for the quarter-finals, the four group winners were seeded, and the four group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group cannot be drawn against each other, while teams from the same association could be drawn against each other.
  • In the draws for semi-finals, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw.

Qualified teams[edit]

The knockout phase involved the 8 teams which qualified as winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage.

Group Winners Runners-up
A Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe Egypt Zamalek
B Tunisia Étoile du Sahel Egypt Al-Ahly
C South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns Morocco Wydad AC
D Tunisia Espérance de Tunis Morocco Raja Casablanca

Bracket[edit]

The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:[1]

Round Matchups
Quarter-finals (Group winners hosted second leg, matchups decided by draw, teams from same group could not play each other)
  • QF1
  • QF2
  • QF3
  • QF4
Semi-finals (Matchups and order of legs decided by draw, between winners QF1, QF2, QF3, QF4)
  • SF1
  • SF2
Final Winners SF1 and SF2 played each other to decide the champions

The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals and semi-finals), which was held on 5 February 2020, 20:00 CAT (UTC+2), at the Hilton Pyramids Golf in Cairo, Egypt.[9][10]

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
                
 
 
 
 
Morocco Raja Casablanca202
 
 
 
Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe011
 
Morocco Raja Casablanca011
 
 
 
Egypt Zamalek134
 
Egypt Zamalek303
 
 
 
Tunisia Espérance de Tunis112
 
Egypt Zamalek1
 
 
 
Egypt Al-Ahly2
 
Morocco Wydad AC202
 
 
 
Tunisia Étoile du Sahel011
 
Morocco Wydad AC011
 
 
 
Egypt Al-Ahly235
 
Egypt Al-Ahly213
 
 
South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns011
 

Quarter-finals[edit]

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 5 February 2020.

Summary[edit]

The first legs were played on 28 and 29 February, and the second legs were played on 6 and 7 March 2020.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Ahly Egypt 3–1 South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns 2–0 1–1
Raja Casablanca Morocco 2–1 Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe 2–0 0–1
Zamalek Egypt 3–2 Tunisia Espérance de Tunis 3–1 0–1
Wydad AC Morocco 2–1 Tunisia Étoile du Sahel 2–0 0–1

Matches[edit]

Al-Ahly Egypt2–0South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns
 Report
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo (DR Congo)
Mamelodi Sundowns South Africa1–1Egypt Al-Ahly
 Report

Al-Ahly won 3–1 on aggregate.

Raja Casablanca Morocco2–0Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe
 Report
TP Mazembe Democratic Republic of the Congo1–0Morocco Raja Casablanca
 Report

Raja Casablanca won 2–1 on aggregate.

Zamalek Egypt3–1Tunisia Espérance de Tunis
 Report
Referee: Rédouane Jiyed (Morocco)
Espérance de Tunis Tunisia1–0Egypt Zamalek
 Report

Zamalek won 3–2 on aggregate.

Wydad AC Morocco2–0Tunisia Étoile du Sahel
 Report
Étoile du Sahel Tunisia1–0Morocco Wydad AC
 Report
Referee: Maguette N'Diaye (Senegal)

Wydad AC won 2–1 on aggregate.

Semi-finals[edit]

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 5 February 2020 (after the quarter-finals draw).

Summary[edit]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, all semi-final matches, originally scheduled for 1–2 May (first legs) and 8–9 May 2020 (second legs), were postponed.[2] The matches were later rescheduled for 17–18 October (first legs) and 23 October and 4 November 2020 (second legs).[6][8]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Raja Casablanca Morocco 1–4 Egypt Zamalek 0–1 1–3
Wydad AC Morocco 1–5 Egypt Al-Ahly 0–2 1–3

Matches[edit]

Raja Casablanca Morocco0–1Egypt Zamalek
Report
Zamalek Egypt3–1Morocco Raja Casablanca
 Report
Referee: Maguette N'Diaye (Senegal)

Zamalek won 4–1 on aggregate.

Wydad AC Morocco0–2Egypt Al-Ahly
Report
Al-Ahly Egypt3–1Morocco Wydad AC
 Report

Al-Ahly won 5–1 on aggregate.

Final[edit]

Main article: 2020 CAF Champions League Final

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, the final, originally scheduled for 29 May 2020, 20:00 WAT, at the Japoma Stadium, Douala, Cameroon, was postponed until further notice.[11][3] In July, the Cameroonian Football Federation announced that they had withdrawn from hosting the final.[12] The CAF decided that the final would be played in Egypt if both semi-finalists from Egypt, Al-Ahly and Zamalek, reached the final, or in Morocco if both semi-finalists from Morocco, Raja Casablanca and Wydad Casablanca, reached the final. If one team from Egypt and one team from Morocco reached the final, it was initially decided that the final would be played in a neutral country,[5] but it was later decided that the final would then be played in either Egypt or Morocco, to be decided by a draw, which was held on 16 October 2020 in Casablanca, Morocco prior to the semi-final first legs, and the country drawn was Egypt.[13]

Since both finalists were from Egypt, the match was played in Egypt, at the Cairo International Stadium, Cairo on 27 November 2020.[8]

Zamalek Egypt1–2Egypt Al Ahly
Shikabala 31' Report
Attendance: 0[note 3]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Étoile du Sahel played their home matches at Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, instead of their regular home stadium Stade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse, which is undergoing renovation.
  2. ^ The second leg between Zamalek and Raja Casablanca, originally scheduled to be played on 24 October 2020, 21:00 UTC+2, at Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, was postponed to 1 November 2020, due to Raja Casablanca being required by Moroccan authorities to self-isolate until 27 October 2020 after eight players testing positive for the COVID-19 virus, with the total number of cases increasing to fourteen the following day.[7] The match was later further postponed to 4 November 2020.[8]
  3. ^ The match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "CAF Champions League regulations" (PDF). CAF.
  2. ^ a b "Postponement of Interclubs semis & Women's qualifiers". CAF. 11 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b "CAF Interclubs finals postponed". CAF. 18 April 2020.
  4. ^ "CAF Champions League, Confederation Cup to resume in September with Final Four format". CAFonline. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Updated calendar for CAF Interclub competitions". CAF. 3 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Decisions of CAF Executive Committee meeting – 10 September 2020". CAF. 10 September 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Press Release". CAF. 22 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d "Press release - New dates of 2019-20 Total CAF Champions League matches". CAF. 30 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Accreditation for Interclubs knockout stages". CAF. 30 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Last eight draw reveal interesting pairings". CAF. 5 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Douala, Rabat named host cities for Interclubs 2019/20 final". CAF. 16 March 2020.
  12. ^ "Cameroon pulls out of hosting African Champions League semi-finals and final". BBC Sport. 13 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Champions League final venue draw conducted". CAF. 16 October 2020.
  14. ^ "CAF and EFA: Total CAF Champions League final behind closed doors". CAF. 25 November 2020.

External links[edit]

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