2019–20 CAF Champions League
The 2019–20 CAF Champions League is the 56th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football, and the 24th edition under the current CAF Champions League title.
This season is the first to follow an August–to-May schedule, as per the decision of the CAF Executive Committee on 20 July 2017. Moreover, for the first time, the final will be played as a single match at a venue pre-selected by CAF, and will be played at the Japoma Stadium in Douala, Cameroon.
The winners of the 2019–20 CAF Champions League will qualify for the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar, and earn the right to play against the winners of the 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup in the 2020 CAF Super Cup in August.
Espérance de Tunis, who had won the last two titles, were eliminated by Zamalek in the quarter-finals.
Association team allocation
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. As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.For the 2019–20 CAF Champions League, the CAF uses the 2015–2019 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:
| CAF Champions League | CAF Confederation Cup | |
| Winners | 6 points | 5 points |
| Runners-up | 5 points | 4 points |
| Losing semi-finalists | 4 points | 3 points |
| Losing quarter-finalists | 3 points | 2 points |
| 3rd place in groups | 2 points | 1 point |
| 4th place in groups | 1 point | 0.5 point |
The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
- 2018–19 – 5
- 2018 – 4
- 2017 – 3
- 2016 – 2
- 2015 – 1
Teams
The following 61 teams from 49 associations entered the competition.- Three teams received a bye to the [|first round].
- The other 58 teams entered the [|preliminary round].
| Association | Team | Qualifying method |
| Espérance de Tunis | Title holders 2018–19 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 champions | |
| Étoile du Sahel | 2018–19 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up | |
| Wydad Casablanca | 2018–19 Botola champions | |
| Raja Casablanca | 2018–19 Botola runners-up | |
| Al-Ahly | 2018–19 Egyptian Premier League champions | |
| Zamalek | 2018–19 Egyptian Premier League runners-up | |
| USM Alger | 2018–19 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 champions | |
| JS Kabylie | 2018–19 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 runners-up | |
| TP Mazembe | 2018–19 Linafoot champions | |
| AS Vita Club | 2018–19 Linafoot runners-up | |
| Mamelodi Sundowns | 2018–19 South African Premier Division champions | |
| Orlando Pirates | 2018–19 South African Premier Division runners-up | |
| ZESCO United | 2019 Zambian Super League champions | |
| Green Eagles | 2019 Zambian Super League runners-up | |
| Al-Merrikh | 2018–19 Sudan Premier League champions | |
| Al-Hilal | 2018–19 Sudan Premier League runners-up | |
| Enyimba | 2019 Nigeria Professional Football League champions | |
| Kano Pillars | 2019 Nigeria Professional Football League runners-up | |
| Horoya | 2018–19 Guinée Championnat National champions | |
| Hafia | 2018–19 Guinée Championnat National runners-up | |
| 1º de Agosto | 2018–19 Girabola champions | |
| Petro de Luanda | 2018–19 Girabola runners-up | |
| Simba | 2018–19 Tanzanian Premier League champions | |
| Young Africans | 2018–19 Tanzanian Premier League runners-up |
;Notes
;Associations which did not enter a team
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.On 24 November 2019, CAF made a change to all fixtures dates starting from the group stage matchday 4 to the final, due to rescheduling of the 2020 African Nations Championship from January/February to April. The quarter-finals draw date was also changed.
The semi-finals and final had been postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qualifying rounds
Preliminary round
First round
Group stage
| Tiebreakers |