The 2012 CAF Champions League (also known as the 2012 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 48th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 16th edition under the current CAF Champions League format.
Al-Ahly from Egypt won a record-extending seventh title, defeating Espérance ST from Tunisia with a 3âÂÂ2 win on aggregate in the final. They qualified for the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup, and also earned the right to play in the 2013 CAF Super Cup.
Theoretically, up to 55 CAF member associations may enter the 2012 CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter 2 teams in the competition. For this year's competition, CAF used <kbd>2006-10 5-Year ranking</kbd>. As a result, a maximum of 67 teams could enter the tournament â although this level has never been reached.
CAF calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubsâ performance over the last 5 years in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, not taking into consideration the running year. The criteria for points are the following:
The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follow:
Below is the entrants list for the competition. Nations are shown according to their 2006âÂÂ2010 CAF 5-year ranking â those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated. Teams were also seeded using their individual 2007âÂÂ2011 5-Year team Ranking. The top thirteen sides (shown in bold) received byes to the first qualifying round.
Schedule of dates for 2012 competition.
<sup>â </sup> Moved from original date of 9âÂÂ11 November.
The fixtures for the preliminary, first and second qualifying rounds were announced on 9 December 2011.
Qualification ties were decided over two legs, with aggregate goals used to determine the winner. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still level, the tie proceeded directly to a penalty shootout (no extra time was played).
The losing teams from the second round advanced to the 2012 CAF Confederation Cup play-off round.
The draw for the group stage was held on 15 May 2012. The eight teams were seeded into four pots (using their individual 2007âÂÂ2011 5-Year team Ranking). Each group contained one team from each pot. The matchdays were 6âÂÂ8 July, 20âÂÂ22 July, 3âÂÂ5 August, 17âÂÂ19 August, 31 AugustâÂÂ2 September, and 14âÂÂ16 September.