| Tourney Name: | CAF Champions League |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Size: | 150px |
| Other Titles: | 2015 Orange CAF Champions League |
| Dates: | 13 February – 8 November 2015 |
| Num Teams: | 57 |
| Associations: | 44 |
| Champion Other: |  TP Mazembe |
| Count: | 5 |
| Second Other: | USM Alger |
| Matches: | 126 |
| Goals: | 268 |
| Top Scorer: |  Bakri Al-MadinaMbwana Samatta |
| Prevseason: | 2014 |
| Nextseason: | 2016 |
The 2015 CAF Champions League (officially the 2015 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 19th edition under the current CAF Champions League format. The winner qualified for the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup, and earned the right to play in the 2016 CAF Super Cup.[1]
TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo won the competition for the fifth time in their history after a 4–1 aggregate victory over USM Alger of Algeria in the final.[2] ES Sétif were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.
All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition. The title holders can also enter.[1] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 69 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2015 CAF Champions League, the CAF uses the 2009–2013 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]
| CAF Champions League | CAF Confederation Cup | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 5 points | 4 points | |
| Runner-up | 4 points | 3 points | |
| Losing semi-finalists | 3 points | 2 points | |
| 3rd place in groups | 2 points | 1 point | |
| 4th place in groups | 1 point | 1 point |
The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
The following 57 teams from 44 associations entered the competition.
Teams in bold received a bye to the first round. The other teams entered the preliminary round.
Associations are shown according to their 2009–2013 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.[4]
| +Associations which did not enter a team | |
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws are held at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt).[5]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | 22 December 2014[6] | 13–15 February 2015 | 27 February–1 March 2015 |
| First round | 13–15 March 2015 | 3–5 April 2015 | ||
| Second round | 17–19 April 2015 | 1–3 May 2015 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 5 May 2015[7] | 26–28 June 2015 | |
| Matchday 2 | 10–12 July 2015 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 24–26 July 2015 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 7–9 August 2015 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 21–23 August 2015 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 11–13 September 2015 | |||
| Knockout stage | Semi-finals | 25–27 September 2015 | 2–4 October 2015 | |
| Final | 30 October–1 November 2015 | 6–8 November 2015 | ||
See main article: 2015 CAF Champions League qualifying rounds.
The draw for the preliminary, first and second qualifying rounds was held on 22 December 2014.[8]
Qualification ties were 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 level, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played).[1]
The losers of the second round entered the 2015 CAF Confederation Cup play-off round.
See main article: 2015 CAF Champions League 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 semi-finals.
See main article: 2015 CAF Champions League knockout stage.
Knockout ties were 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 level, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played).[1]
In the semi-finals, the group A winners played the group B runners-up, and the group B winners played the group A runners-up, with the group winners hosting the second leg.
See main article: 2015 CAF Champions League Final.
In the final, the order of legs was determined by a draw, held after the group stage draw.
