2018–19 CAF Champions League group stage explained

Tourney Name:	CAF Champions League group stage
Year:	2018–19
Matches:	47
Goals:	110
Prevseason:	2018
Nextseason:	2019–20

The 2018–19 CAF Champions League group stage were played from 11 January to 16 March 2019.^[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the group stage to decide the eight places in the knockout stage of the 2018–19 CAF Champions League.^[2]

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 28 December 2018, 19:00 CAT (UTC+2), at the Nile Ritz-Carlton in Cairo, Egypt.^{[3] [4]} The 16 teams, including the title holders, Espérance de Tunis, and the 15 winners of the first round of qualifying, were drawn into four groups of four.^[5]

The teams were seeded by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons (CAF 5-year ranking points shown in parentheses). Each group contained one team from each of Pot 1, Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot 4, and each team was drawn into one of the positions in their group.

Pot	width=25%	Pot 1	width=25%	Pot 2	width=25%	Pot 3	width=25%	Pot 4
Teams	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top	ASEC Mimosas Orlando Pirates Simba CS Constantine	valign=top	Ismaily Lobi Stars FC Platinum JS Saoura

Format

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):^[2]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
5. 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;
6. Goal difference in all group matches;
7. Goals scored in all group matches;
8. Away goals scored in all group matches;
9. Drawing of lots.

Schedule

The schedule of each matchday was as follows (matches scheduled in midweek in italics).^[1] Effective from the Champions League group stage, weekend matches were played on Fridays and Saturdays while midweek matches were played on Tuesdays, with some exceptions. Kick-off times were also fixed at 13:00 (Saturdays and Tuesdays only), 16:00 and 19:00 GMT.^[6]

Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	11–12 January 2019	Team 1 vs. Team 4, Team 2 vs. Team 3
Matchday 2	18–19 January 2019	Team 3 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 2
Matchday 3	1–2 February 2019	Team 4 vs. Team 3, Team 1 vs. Team 2
Matchday 4	12 February 2019	Team 3 vs. Team 4, Team 2 vs. Team 1
Matchday 5	8–9 March 2019	Team 4 vs. Team 1, Team 3 vs. Team 2
Matchday 6	15–16 March 2019	Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 4

Groups

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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External links

• Total CAF Champions League 2018/2019, CAFonline.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: Interclubs competition calendar; seasons 2018/19, 2019/20 & 2020/21 . CAF.
2. Web site: CAF Champions League regulations . CAF .
3. Web site: Draw Procedure for CAF Interclubs 2018/19. CAF. 28 December 2018.
4. Web site: African champs Esperance draw Horoya, Pirates, Platinum. CAF. 28 December 2018.
5. Web site: Draw Procedure of CAF Total Champions League 2018/19 - Group Matches. CAF.
6. Web site: Friday & Saturday for Champions League, Sunday for Confederation Cup. CAF. 17 April 2018.