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.
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. 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]
Gambia (GAM):Gambia were originally not able to enter a team after the association was suspended from all CAF competitions for two years for deliberately fielding overage players in the 2015 African U-20 Championship qualification match against Liberia,[8][9][10] but the ban was lifted by the CAF following new election of the Gambia Football Association.[11]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws are held at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt).[12]
The draw for the preliminary, first and second qualifying rounds was held on 22 December 2014.[15]
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]
Location of teams of the 2015 CAF Champions League group stage. Group A. Group B.
The draw for the group stage was held on 5 May 2015, 11:00 UTC+2, at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[17][18] The eight winners of the second round were drawn into two groups of four. Each group contained one team from Pot 1, one team from Pot 2, and two teams from Pot 3.[19] The seeding of each team was determined by their ranking points calculated based on performances in continental club championships for the period 2010–2014.
The following eight teams were entered into the draw:
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.
Tiebreakers
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:[1]
Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
Away goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
If, after applying criteria 1 to 4 to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 9 apply;
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.
TP Mazembe (5th title)
USM Alger
Bakri Al-Madina
Mbwana Samatta
