2025–26 CAF Confederation Cup
| TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup 2025–2026 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | Qualification: 16 September – 26 October 2025 Competition proper: 22 November 2025 – 16 May 2026 |
| Teams | 58 (from 46 associations) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 43 |
| Goals scored | 90 (2.09 per match) |
| Top scorer |  Abdennour Belhocini (4 goals) |
← 2024–25 2026–27 →
All statistics correct as of 14 February 2026.(Note: All statistics do not include qualifying rounds) | |
The 2025–26 CAF Confederation Cup, officially the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes,[1] is the 23rd edition of the CAF Confederation Cup and 51st overall season of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The winners of this edition of the competition will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2025–26 CAF Champions League in the 2026 CAF Super Cup.[2]
Association team allocation
All 54 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Confederation Cup, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to the CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition.[2] As a result, a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For this season's edition, CAF used the 2020–2025 CAF 5-year ranking, which calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs performance over the 5 years in the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The criteria for the points are as follows:[3][4]
| 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 | 3 points | 2 points |
| 3rd place in groups | 2 points | 1 point |
| 4th place in groups | 1 point | 0.5 point |
The points were multiplied by a coefficient according to the season as follows:
- 2024–25: × 5
- 2023–24: × 4
- 2022–23: × 3
- 2021–22: × 2
- 2020–21: × 1
Teams
The following 58 teams from 46 associations entered the competition.
- Bold received a bye to the second round.
- The other teams entered the first round.
Associations are shown according to their CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score (in parentheses) indicated.
- Associations which did not enter a team
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Schedule
The schedule of the qualifying tournament is as follows.
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying rounds | First round | 9 August 2025 | 19–21 September 2025 | 26–28 September 2025 |
| Second round | 17–19 October 2025 | 24–26 October 2025 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 3 November 2025 | 23 November 2025 | |
| Matchday 2 | 30 November 2025 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 25 January 2026 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 1 February 2026 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 8 February 2026 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 15 February 2026 | |||
| Knockout stage | Quarter-finals | 17 February 2026 | 15 March 2026 | 22 March 2026 |
| Semi-finals | 12 April 2026 | 19 April 2026 | ||
| Final | 9 May 2026 | 16 May 2026 | ||
Qualifying rounds
The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 9 August 2025, 10:00 GMT (13:00 local time, UTC+3), at Azam TV studios in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[5]
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 a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).
First round
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Asante Kotoko  | 5–3 |  Kwara United | 4–3 | 1–0 |
Génération Foot  | 4–6 |  AFAD Djékanou | 1–1 | 3–5 |
Bhantal  | 3–5 |  Hafia | 0–3 | 3–2 |
USFA  | 3–0 | .svg.png){kind=small} AS Gbohloé-Su | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Abia Warriors | 1–2 |  Djoliba | 1–1 | 0–1 |
ASN Nigelec  | 0–6 |  Olympic Safi | 0–1 | 0–5 |
Stade Tunisien  | 2–0 |  ASC Snim | 2–0 | 0–0 |
Aigle Royal  | 2–3 | San Pédro | 0–1 | 2–2 |
Black Man Warrior  | 1–4 |  Coton FC | 0–0 | 1–4 |
Dekedaha  | 2–2 (a) |  Al Zamala | 1–0 | 1–2 |
Wolaitta Dicha  | 1–3 |  Al Ittihad Tripoli | 0–0 | 1–3 |
NEC FC  | 3–3 (a) |  Nairobi United | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| Al Ahli Madani | 1–3 | Étoile du Sahel | 1–0 | 0–3 |
AS Port  | 2–4 |  KMKM | 1–2 | 1–2 |
El Merreikh Bentiu  | 0–4 |  Azam | 0–2 | 0–2 |
Flambeau du Centre  | 4–3 | Al Akhdar | 2–1 | 2–2 |
Rayon Sports  | 1–3 | Singida Black Stars | 0–1 | 1–2 |
Foresters Mont Fleuri  | 1–4 |  15 de Agosto | 1–0 | 0–4 |
FC 105 Libreville  | 2–5 |  ZESCO United | 2–0 | 0–5 |
Mighty Wanderers  | 1–1 (5–6 p) |  Jwaneng Galaxy | 1–0 | 0–1 |
AS Simba  | 3–0 |  Djabal d'Iconi | 1–0 | 2–0 |
Kabuscorp  | 1–1 (4–5 p) |  Kaizer Chiefs | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Maniema Union | 4–3 |  Pamplemousses | 2–1 | 2–2 |
Young African  | 0–7 |  Royal Leopards | 0–2 | 0–5 |
Ferroviário de Maputo  | 3–2 |  AS Fanalamanga | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Primeiro de Agosto | 1–2 |  AS Otohô | 1–2 | 0–0 |
Second round
The 16 winners of the second round advanced to the group stage.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asante Kotoko | 1–6 | Wydad AC | 0–1 | 1–5 |
| AFAD Djékanou | 1–3 | USM Alger | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Hafia | 1–3 | CR Belouizdad | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| USFA | 1–2 | Djoliba | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Olympic Safi | 3–2 | Stade Tunisien | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| San Pédro | 4–1 | Coton FC | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Dekedaha | 0–7 |  Zamalek | 0–6 | 0–1 |
| Al Ittihad Tripoli | 1–2 | Al Masry | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Nairobi United | 2–2 (7–6 p) | Étoile du Sahel | 2–0 | 0–2 |
| KMKM | 0–9 | Azam | 0–2 | 0–7 |
| Flambeau du Centre | 2–4 | Singida Black Stars | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| 15 de Agosto | 1–4 | Stellenbosch | 0–0 | 1–4 |
| ZESCO United | 5–4 | Jwaneng Galaxy | 4–3 | 1–1 |
| AS Simba | 1–3 | Kaizer Chiefs | 0–0 | 1–3 |
| Maniema Union | 2–2 (4–3 p) | Royal Leopards | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Ferroviário de Maputo | 0–3 | AS Otohô | 0–1 | 0–2 |
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 3 November 2025, 11:00 GMT (13:00 local time, UTC+2), in Johannesburg, South Africa.[6] The 16 winners of the second round of qualifying rounds 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 will contain one team from each of Pot 1, Pot 2, and Pot 3, and each team was allocated to the positions in their group according to their pot.
| Pot | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams |
|
|
|
In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
| Tiebreakers |
|---|
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations III. 20 & 21):
|
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | USMA | OCS | FCSP | DAC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USM Alger
|
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 14 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | Olympic Safi
|
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 13 | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | ||
| 3 | San Pédro
|
6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 14 | −6 | 3 | 2–3 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | Djoliba
|
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 4 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | — |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | WAC | ASMU | AFC | NU | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wydad AC
|
6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 15 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Maniema Union
|
6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 12 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Azam
|
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 9 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Nairobi United
|
6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 11 | −10 | 0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | — |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | CRB | ASO | SFC | SBS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CR Belouizdad
|
6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 15 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | AS Otohô
|
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 9 | 4–1 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 3 | Stellenbosch
|
6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 5 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | ||
| 4 | Singida Black Stars
|
6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 5 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ZAM | MAS | KCFC | ZUFC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zamalek
|
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 11 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Al Masry
|
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10 | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | Kaizer Chiefs
|
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 10 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | ZESCO United
|
6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 3 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | — |
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 could be drawn against each other.
- In the draws for the 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 are played, the identity of the quarter-final winners will not be known at the time of the semi-final draw.
| Group | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| A | USM Alger
|
Olympic Safi
|
| B | Wydad AC
|
Maniema Union
|
| C | CR Belouizdad
|
AS Otohô
|
| D | Zamalek
|
Al Masry
|
Top goalscorers
As of 14 February 2026
| Rank | Player | Team | MD1 | MD2 | MD3 | MD4 | MD5 | MD6 | QF1 | QF2 | SF1 | SF2 | F1 | F2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abdennour Belhocini
|
CR Belouizdad
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| 2 | Pomi Nzaou
|
AS Otohô
|
2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Dramane Kamagaté
|
San Pédro
|
1 | 2 |
See also
References
- ^ "Total, Title Sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations and Partner of African Football". CAFOnline.com. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
- ^ a b "CAF Confederation Cup regulations" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
- ^ "16 Clubs for Group Phase of CC and CL effective 2017". CAFOnline.com. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ^ "New adopted format for Club Competitions". CAFOnline.com. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^ "CAF to stage the TotalEnergies CAF Interclub Preliminary Draw in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Saturday". CAFOnline.com. 5 August 2025. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
- ^ "CAF Interclub Group Stages Draw to be held in Johannesburg on 03 November". Confederation of African Football. 23 October 2025.