| Tourney Name: | CAF Champions League |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Other Titles: | 2017 Total CAF Champions League |
| Num Teams: | 55 |
| Associations: | 43 |
| Champion Other: |  Wydad AC |
| Count: | 2 |
| Second Other: |  Al Ahly |
| Matches: | 138 |
| Goals: | 318 |
| Prevseason: | 2016 |
| Nextseason: | 2018 |
The 2017 CAF Champions League (officially the 2017 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 53rd edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 21st edition under the current CAF Champions League title.
Starting from this season, the group stage was expanded from eight to 16 teams, divided into four groups of four, and the knockout stage expanded from 4 to 8 teams.[2] [3]
Wydad AC defeated Al Ahly in the final to win their second African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League title,[4] and qualified as the CAF representative at the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup, TP Mazembe, in the 2018 CAF Super Cup.[5] Mamelodi Sundowns were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Wydad Casablanca.
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.[5] As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2017 CAF Champions League, the CAF uses the 2011–2015 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:[6]
| CAF Champions League | CAF Confederation Cup | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | 5 points | 4 points | |
| Runners-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 55 teams from 43 associations entered the competition.
Associations are shown according to their 2011–2015 CAF 5-year ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
Benin
Cape Verde
Djibouti
Eritrea
Guinea-Bissau
Malawi
Namibia
São Tomé and Príncipe
SomaliaThe schedule of the competition was as follows (matches scheduled in midweek in italics).[7] [8]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | 21 December 2016 (Cairo, Egypt) | 10–12 February 2017 | 17–19 February 2017 |
| First round | 10–12 March 2017 | 17–19 March 2017 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 26 April 2017 (Cairo, Egypt) | 12–14 May 2017 | |
| Matchday 2 | 23–24 May 2017 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 2–4 June 2017 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 20–21 June 2017 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 30 June – 2 July 2017 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 7–9 July 2017 | |||
| Knockout stage | Quarter-finals | 15–17 September 2017 | 22–24 September 2017 | |
| Semi-finals | 29 September – 1 October 2017 | 20–22 October 2017 | ||
| Final | 27–29 October 2017 | 3–5 November 2017 | ||
The calendar was amended from the original one for the following dates:[8]
See main article: 2017 CAF Champions League qualifying rounds.
See main article: 2017 CAF Champions League group stage.
See main article: 2017 CAF Champions League knockout stage.
See main article: 2017 CAF Champions League Final.
| Rank | Player | Team |    |    | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Taha Yassine Khenissi | ES Tunis | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||||||
| 2 | Achraf Bencharki | Wydad AC | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| 3 | Walid Azaro | Al Ahly | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Oussama Darfalou | USM Alger | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
 Tady Etekiama |  AS Vita Club | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 6 |  Diogo Acosta | Étoile du Sahel | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||
 Junior Ajayi | Al Ahly | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Brian Amidu | CAPS United | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Farouk Chafaï | USM Alger | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Ronald Chitiyo | CAPS United | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Walid El Karti | Wydad AC | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Ronald Pfumbidzai | CAPS United | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Moamen Zakaria | Al Ahly | 1 | 1 | 1 |
In 2017, the fixed amount of prize money paid to the clubs is as follows:[9]
| Final position | Money awarded to club | National Association share 5% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | US$2,500,000 | US$125,000 | |
| Runners-up | US$1,250,000 | US$62,500 | |
| Semi-finalists | US$800,000 | US$40,000 | |
| Quarter-finalists | US$650,000 | US$32,500 | |
| 3rd in group stage | US$550,000 | US$27,500 | |
| 4th in group stage | US$550,000 | US$27,500 |
