2018 CAF Champions League knockout stage explained

The 2018 CAF Champions League knockout stage was played from 14 September to 9 November 2018.[1] A total of eight teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2018 CAF Champions League.[2]

Qualified teams

The winners and runners-up of each of the four groups in the group stage advanced to the quarter-finals.

Groupwidth=200Winnerswidth=200Runners-up
A Al Ahly Espérance de Tunis
B TP Mazembe ES Sétif
C Wydad AC Horoya
D Étoile du Sahel 1º de Agosto

Format

In the knockout stage, the eight teams played a single-elimination tournament. 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 would be applied, and if still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 26 & 27).[2]

Schedule

The schedule of each round 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.[3]

RoundFirst legSecond leg
Quarter-finals14–15 September 201821–22 September 2018
Semi-finals2 October 201823 October 2018
Final2 November 20189 November 2018

Bracket

The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:[2]

RoundMatchups
Quarter-finals(Group winners host second leg, matchups decided by draw, teams from same group cannot 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 host first leg, Winners SF2 host second leg)
  • Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2
The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals and semi-finals), which was held on 3 September 2018, 20:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[4] [5] [6]

Quarter-finals

In the quarter-finals, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group (teams from same group could not play each other), with the group winners hosting the second leg, and the matchups decided by draw.[4]

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1–1 on aggregate. 1º de Agosto won on away goals.----Espérance de Tunis won 3–1 on aggregate.----ES Sétif won 1–0 on aggregate.----Al-Ahly won 4–0 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, the four quarter-final winners played in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs decided by draw.[4]

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Al-Ahly won 3–2 on aggregate.----Espérance de Tunis won 4–3 on aggregate.

Final

See main article: article and 2018 CAF Champions League Final.

In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the order of legs determined by the semi-final draw.[4] Espérance de Tunis won 4–3 on aggregate.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: DATES FOR CAF INTERCLUBS COMPETITIONS 2018. CAF.
  2. Web site: CAF Champions League regulations . CAF .
  3. Web site: Friday & Saturday for Champions League, Sunday for Confederation Cup. CAF. 17 April 2018.
  4. Web site: Draw Procedure of the 22nd Edition of Total CAF Champions League, CL 2018. CAF. 2 September 2018.
  5. Web site: CAF Champions League 2018 DRAW. YouTube. 3 September 2018.
  6. Web site: Total CAF Champions League 2018 Draw. CAF.