2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup

The 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup (officially the 2022–23 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons)^[1] is the 20th 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.

2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup

2022–23 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying: 9 September – 9 November 2022 Competition proper: 12 February – 11 June 2023
Teams	Competition proper: 16 Total: 50+16 (from 39 associations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	40
Goals scored	100 (2.5 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Paul Acquah Aubin Kramo Kouamé (4 goals each)
← 2021–22 2023–24 → All statistics correct as of 19 March 2023. (Note: All statistics do not include qualifying play-offs)

The winners will automatically qualify for the 2023–24 CAF Confederation Cup, and also earn the right to play against the winners of the 2022–23 CAF Champions League in the 2023 CAF Super Cup.^[2]

RS Berkane are the defending champions, but were eliminated in the playoff round by US Monastir.

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.^[2] 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 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF uses the 2017–2022 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:^[3][4][5]

	CAF Champions League	CAF Confederation Cup
Winners	6 points	5 points
Runners-up	5 points	4 points
Losing semi-finalists	4 points	3 points
Losing quarter-finalists (from 2017)	3 points	2 points
3rd place in groups	2 points	1 point
4th place in groups	1 point	0.5 point

The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:

• 2021–22: x 5
• 2020–21: × 4
• 2019–20: × 3
• 2018–19: × 2
• 2018: × 1

Teams

The following 50 teams from 39 associations entered the competition.

• Teams in bold received a bye to the second round.
• The other teams entered the first round.

Associations are shown according to their 2018–2022 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)

Association	Rank (Pts)	Team	Qualifying method
Morocco	1 (194)	RS Berkane	Title holders (2021–22 CAF Confederation Cup winners)
		ASFAR	2021–22 Botola third place
Egypt	2 (176)	Future	2021–22 Egyptian Premier League third place after 24 rounds^[Note EGY]
		Pyramids	2021–22 Egyptian Premier League fourth place after 24 rounds^[Note EGY]
Algeria	3 (115)	JS Saoura	2021–22 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third place
		USM Alger	2021–22 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 fourth place
Tunisia	4 (113)	CS Sfaxien	2021–22 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 third place
		Club Africain	2021–22 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 fourth place
South Africa	5 (109.5)	Royal AM	2021–22 South African Premier Division third place
		Marumo Gallants	2021–22 Nedbank Cup runners-up
DR Congo	6 (63)	Saint-Éloi Lupopo	2021–22 Linafoot third place
		Motema Pembe	2021–22 Coupe du Congo winners
Angola	7 (46)	Sagrada Esperança	2021–22 Girabola third place
Sudan	8 (33.5)	Hilal Alsahil	2021–22 Sudan Premier League third place
		Al Ahli Khartoum	2021–22 Sudan Cup runners-up
Libya	9 (33)	Al Akhdar	2021–22 Libyan Premier League third place
		Al Nasr	2021–22 Libyan Premier League fourth place
Guinea	10 (31)	Milo	2021–22 Guinée Championnat National third place
		Ashanti Golden Boys	2021–22 Guinée Championnat National fourth place
Tanzania	11 (30.5)	Azam	2021–22 Tanzanian Premier League third place
		Geita Gold	2021–22 Tanzanian Premier League fourth place
Nigeria	12 (26)	Remo Stars	2021–22 Nigeria Professional Football League third place
		Kwara United	2021–22 Nigeria Professional Football League fourth place

Associations eligible to enter one team

Association	Rank (Pts)	Team	Qualifying method
Zambia	13 (24.5)	ZESCO United	2021–22 Zambian Super League runners-up
Cameroon	14 (14.5)	PWD Bamenda	2021–22 Cameroon Cup winners
Ivory Coast	16 (10.5)	Gagnoa	2021–22 Côte d'Ivoire Ligue 1 runners-up
Congo	17 (8)	Diables Noirs	2021–22 Coupe du Congo winners
Botswana	18 (6)	Security Systems	2021–22 Botswana FA Cup runners-up
Eswatini	21 (3.5)	Mbabane Highlanders	2021–22 Eswatini Premier League runners-up
Mali	21 (3.5)	Real Bamako	2021–22 Malian Cup runners-up
Burkina Faso	23 (3)	Douanes de Ouagadougou	2021–22 Coupe du Faso winners
Niger	24 (2.5)	Douanes de Niamey	2021–22 Niger Cup winners
Ghana	24 (2.5)	Hearts of Oak	2021–22 Ghanaian FA Cup winners
Rwanda	26 (2)	Kigali	2021–22 Rwandan Cup winners
Uganda	26 (2)	Bul	2021–22 Uganda Cup winners
Mauritania	28 (1.5)	Nouakchott Kings	2021–22 Coupe du Président de la République winners
Benin	28 (1.5)	Buffles du Borgou	2021–22 Benin Premier League runners-up
Mozambique	30 (1)	Ferroviário da Beira	2021 Moçambola runners-up
Togo	30 (3)	ASC Kara	2021–22 Togolese Championnat National runners-up
Burundi	—	Bumamuru	2021–22 Burundian Cup winners
Chad	—	AS Santé d’Abéché	2021–22 Chad Premier League runners-up
Djibouti	—	ASAS Télécom	2021–22 Djibouti Cup runners-up
Equatorial Guinea	—	Inter de Litoral Academy	2021–22 Equatoguinean Cup Región Continental winners
Ethiopia	—	Fasil Kenema	2021–22 Ethiopian Premier League runners-up
Liberia	—	LISCR	2021–22 Liberia Cup winners
Madagascar	—	Elgeco Plus	2021–22 Madagascar Cup winners
Seychelles	—	St Michel United	2021–22 Seychelles Premier League runners-up
Sierra Leone	—	Kallon	2021–22 Sierra Leone Premier League fifth place
South Sudan	—	Al Hilal Wau	2021–22 South Sudan National Cup winners
Zanzibar	—	Kipanga	2021–22 Zanzibari Cup winners

Associations which did not enter a team

•   Senegal
•   Kenya
•   Zimbabwe
•   Cape Verde
•   Central African Republic
•   Comoros
•   Eritrea
•   Gabon
•   Gambia
•   Guinea-Bissau
•   Lesotho
•   Malawi
•   Mauritius
•   Namibia
•   Réunion
•   São Tomé and Príncipe
•   Somalia

Notes:

1. Egypt (EGY):The 2021–22 Egyptian Premier League was not finished by the CAF deadline. As a result, the Egyptian Football Association announced that Zamalek and Al Ahly, who were at first and second place after 24 rounds respectively, represented Egypt in the 2022–23 CAF Champions League. Meanwhile, Future and Pyramids FC, who were at third and fourth place after 24 rounds respectively, represented Egypt in the 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup.

Schedule

Schedule for 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First round	9 August 2022	9–11 September 2022	16–18 September 2022
	Second round		7–9 October 2022	14–16 October 2022
	Playoff round	18 October 2022	2 November 2022	9 November 2022
Group stage	Matchday 1	12 December 2022	12 February 2023
	Matchday 2		19 February 2023
	Matchday 3		26 February 2023
	Matchday 4		8 March 2023
	Matchday 5		19 March 2023
	Matchday 6		2 April 2023
Knockout stage	Quarter-finals	April 2023	23 April 2023	30 April 2023
	Semi-finals		14 May 2023	21 May 2023
	Finals		4 June 2023	11 June 2023

Qualifying rounds

Main article: 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup qualifying rounds

The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 9 August 2022 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.^[6][7][8]

In the qualifying rounds, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still tied, extra time was not played, and the penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).

First round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kwara United	3–0	Douanes de Niamey	3–0	0–0
LISCR	1–3	Gagnoa	0–0	1–3
Milo	2–4	ASC Kara	2–1	0–3
Douanes de Ouagadougou	0–0 (1–3 p)	Real Bamako	0–0	0–0
Hilal Alsahil	2–2 (a)	Geita Gold	1–0	1–2
Fasil Kenema	3–1	Bumamuru	3–0	0–1
ASAS Télécom	0–1	Kigali	0–0	0–1
Al Hilal Wau	2–2 (3–4 p)	Kipanga	1–1	1–1
Al Akhdar	3–0	Al Ahli Khartoum	3–0	0–0
Mbabane Highlanders	0–2	Royal AM	0–0	0–2
Security Systems	w/o^[A]	Saint-Éloi Lupopo	—	—
St Michel United	w/o^[B]	Inter de Litoral Academy	—	—
AS Santé d’Abéché	1–3	Ferroviário da Beira	1–2	0–1
PWD Bamenda	1–2	Elgeco Plus	1–1	0–1
ASFAR	2–1	Remo Stars	1–1	1–0
Ashanti Golden Boys	2–1	Nouakchott Kings	2–0	0–1
Buffles du Borgou	0–4	Kallon	0–1	0–3
Bul	0–1	Future	0–0	0–1

Notes:

1. Saint-Éloi Lupopo won on a walkover after Security Systems withdrew from the competition citing financial reasons.^[9]
2. St Michel United won on a walkover after Inter de Litoral Academy failed to appear for the first leg.^[10]

Second round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kwara United	3–3 (a)	RS Berkane	3–1	0–2
Gagnoa	1–0	JS Saoura	1–0	0–0
ASC Kara	1–4	USM Alger	0–2	1–2
Real Bamako	3–1	Hearts of Oak	3–0	0–1
Hilal Alsahil	0–9	Pyramids	0–2	0–7
Fasil Kenema	0–1	CS Sfaxien	0–0	0–1
Kigali	0–1	Al Nasr	0–0	0–1
Kipanga	0–7	Club Africain	0–0	0–7
Al Akhdar	3–2	Azam	3–0	0–2
Royal AM	1–1 (a)	ZESCO United	0–0	1–1
Saint-Éloi Lupopo	2–0	Sagrada Esperança	2–0	0–0
St Michel United	1–2	Motema Pembe	1–0	0–2
Ferroviário da Beira	2–4	Diables Noirs	2–1	0–3
Elgeco Plus	1–4	Marumo Gallants	1–3	0–1
ASFAR	5–0	Ashanti Golden Boys	4–0	1–0
Kallon	0–6	Future	0–2	0–4

Playoff round

The 16 winners of the second round advanced to the playoff round, where they were joined by the 16 losers of the Champions League second round.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Rail Club du Kadiogo	0–2	Saint-Éloi Lupopo	0–1	0–1
Royal Leopards	2–4	Real Bamako	1–1	1–3
TP Mazembe	3–0	Royal AM	2–0	1–0
1º de Agosto	2–2 (2–3 p)	Future	1–1	1–1
ASEC Mimosas	5–2	Gagnoa	2–0	3–2
Djoliba	0–4	ASFAR	0–0	0–4
Al Ahli Tripoli	1–3	Marumo Gallants	1–0	0–3
ASKO Kara	2–1	CS Sfaxien	2–1	0–0
Young Africans	1–0	Club Africain	0–0	1–0
Flambeau du Centre	1–4	Motema Pembe	0–2	1–2
Rivers United	6–1	Al Nasr	5–0	1–1
US Monastir	1–0	RS Berkane	1–0	0–0
Cape Town City	0–1	USM Alger	0–0	0–1
ASN Nigelec	1–3	Pyramids	1–0	0–3
La Passe	2–6	Diables Noirs	0–2	2–4
Plateau United	4–4 (a)	Al Akhdar	4–1	0–3

Group stage

Main article: 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 12 December 2022, 11:00 GMT (13:00 local time, UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.^[11] The 16 winners of the playoff round of qualifying were drawn into four groups of four.

The teams were seeded by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons (CAF 5-Year Ranking points shown next to every team). Each group contained one team from each of Pot 1, Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot 4, and each team was allocated to the positions in their group according to their pot.

Pot	Pot 1	Pot 2
Teams	TP Mazembe (43 pts)   Pyramids (34 pts)   ASEC Mimosas (8 pts)   USM Alger (5 pts)	Motema Pembe (3 pts)   Young Africans (0.5 pts)   Diables Noirs   Saint-Éloi Lupopo   Future   Al Akhdar   Real Bamako   ASFAR   Rivers United   Marumo Gallants   ASKO Kara   US Monastir

In the group stage, each group will be played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order (Regulations III. 20 & 21): Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Away goals scored in all group matches; Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MAG	USM	LUP	AKH
1	Marumo Gallants (A)	5	3	0	2	9	8	+1	9	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–0	2 Apr	4–1
2	USM Alger	5	2	2	1	7	4	+3	8			2–0	—	3–0	2 Apr
3	Saint-Éloi Lupopo	5	1	2	2	4	7	−3	5^[a]			1–2	1–1	—	1–0
4	Al Akhdar	5	1	2	2	7	8	−1	5^[a]			4–1	1–1	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 19 March 2023. Source: CAF
(A) Advance to a further round
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Saint-Éloi Lupopo 4, Al Akhdar 1

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RIV	ASE	DBL	DCM
1	Rivers United (A)	5	3	1	1	9	6	+3	10^[a]	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–0	2–2	3–1
2	ASEC Mimosas (A)	5	3	1	1	5	4	+1	10^[a]			2 Apr	—	2–0	0–0
3	Diables Noirs (E)	5	1	2	2	5	5	0	5			3–0	0–1	—	2 Apr
4	Motema Pembe (E)	5	0	2	3	2	6	−4	2			0–1	1–2	0–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 19 March 2023. Source: CAF
(A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Rivers United 3, ASEC Mimosas 0

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FAR	PFC	FUT	ASK
1	ASFAR (A)	5	3	1	1	10	5	+5	10	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–0	2–0	5–1
2	Pyramids	5	2	2	1	8	5	+3	8^[a]			2–2	—	2 Apr	1–0
3	Future	5	2	2	1	7	4	+3	8^[a]			2–0	1–1	—	3–0
4	ASKO Kara (E)	5	0	1	4	3	14	−11	1			2 Apr	1–4	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 19 March 2023 (1 of 2 matches played). Source: CAF
(A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Pyramids 1, Future 1. Head-to-head goal difference: Pyramids 0, Future 0. Head-to-head goals scored: Pyramids 1, Future 1. Head-to-head away goals: Pyramids 1, Future 0

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		YNG	USM	ASR	TPM
1	Young Africans (A)	5	3	1	1	8	4	+4	10^[a]	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–0	2–0	3–1
2	US Monastir (A)	5	3	1	1	6	3	+3	10^[a]			2–0	—	2 Apr	1–0
3	Real Bamako (E)	5	1	2	2	5	8	−3	5			1–1	1–1	—	2–1
4	TP Mazembe (E)	5	1	0	4	5	9	−4	3			2 Apr	0–2	3–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 19 March 2023. Source: CAF
(A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Young Africans 3, US Monastir 3. Head-to-head goal difference: Young Africans 0, US Monastir 0. Head-to-head goals scored: Young Africans 2, US Monastir 2. Head-to-head away goals: Young Africans 0, US Monastir 0. Goal difference: Young Africans +4, US Monastir +3

Knockout stage

Main article: 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup knockout stage

The mechanism of the draws for each round will be as follows:

• In the draw for the quarter-finals, the four group winners will be seeded, and the four group runners-up will be unseeded. The seeded teams will be drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other, while teams from the same association can be drawn against each other.
• In the draws for semi-finals, there will be 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 will be held together before the quarter-finals will be played, the identity of the quarter-final winners will not be known at the time of the semi-final draw.

Group	Winners	Runners-up	Qualified (position TBD)
A			Marumo Gallants
B			Rivers United   ASEC Mimosas
C			ASFAR
D			Young Africans   US Monastir

Top goalscorers

As of 19 March 2023

  Team eliminated / inactive for this round.

Rank	Player	Team	MD1	MD2	MD3	MD4	MD5	MD6	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	F1	F2	Total
1	Paul Acquah	Rivers United			1	3									4
	Aubin Kramo Kouamé	ASEC Mimosas			1	1	2
3	Ranga Chivaviro	Marumo Gallants	2	1											3
	Boubacar Traoré	US Monastir	1		1	1
	Mostafa Fathi	Pyramids	1			2
	Fiston Kalala Mayele	Young Africans			1	1	1
7	Khaled Bousseliou	USM Alger	2												2
	Alex Ngonga	TP Mazembe	1	1
	Mustapha Sahd	ASFAR	1	1
	Zied Aloui	US Monastir		1	1
	Hamza Igamane	ASFAR		1	1
	Lesiba William Nku	Marumo Gallants	1			1
	Fakhreddine Ben Youssef	Pyramids			1	1
	Kangnivi Ama Tchoutchoui	ASKO Kara	1			1
	Kennedy Musonda	Young Africans		1			1
	Ousmane Kamissoko	Real Bamako					2
	Nyima Nekabari Nwagua	Rivers United					2
	Mpho Mvelase	Marumo Gallants		1			1
	Ary Papel	Al Akhdar					2
	Mydo Kingu Nakouho Yallet	Motema Pembe				1	1
	Ahmed Hammoudan	ASFAR		1			1

See also

• 2022–23 CAF Champions League
• 2023 CAF Super Cup

References

1. "Total, Title Sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations and Partner of African Football". CAF. 21 July 2016.
2. "CAF Confederation Cup regulations" (PDF). CAF.
3. "16 Clubs for Group Phase of CC and CL effective 2017". CAF. 11 May 2016.
4. "New adopted format for Club Competitions". CAF. 30 May 2016.
5. "CAF disowns club ranking published by some websites". Cafonline.com. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
6. "The new CAF interclub season is on!". CAF. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
7. "2022-23 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup First Preliminary Round - First Leg Fixtures & Results". CAF. 6 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
8. ""CC Fixtures - 1st & 2nd Round"" (PDF). CAF. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
9. "Botswana's Security Systems withdraws from 2022/23 Caf Confederation Cup". Footy Ghana. 24 August 2022.
10. "2022-23 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup First Preliminary Round - Second Leg Fixtures & Results". CAF Online. 13 September 2022.
11. "New date confirmed for TotalEnergies CAF Interclubs group stage draw". CAFOnline.com. 24 November 2022.

External links

• CAFonline.com