The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (French: Confédération Africaine de Football, Arabic: الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, romanized: al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administrative and controlling body for association football, futsal and beach soccer in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the Grand Hotel[1] in Khartoum, Sudan[2] by the national football associations of Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and Sudan,[3] following formal discussions between the aforementioned associations at the FIFA Congress held on 7 June 1956 at Avenida Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal.[4]
One of the six continental confederations of world football governing body, FIFA, CAF represents the national football associations of Africa, runs national team and club continental competitions and controls the prize money, regulations and broadcast rights to such competitions. CAF will be allocated 9 spots in the FIFA World Cup starting from 2026 and could have an opportunity of 10 spots with the addition of an intercontinental play-off tournament involving six teams to decide the last two FIFA World Cup places (46+2).
The headquarters of CAF was situated in Khartoum for within the first months of formation until a fire outbreak in the offices of the Sudanese Football Association when the organization was moved near Cairo, Egypt. Youssef Mohamad was the first general secretary and Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem, the first president. Since 2002, the administrative center is situated in 6th of October City in Cairo, Egypt. CAF currently has 54 member associations which are full members, while Zanzibar and Réunion are associate members (see the CAF Members and Zones section below). The current president is Patrice Motsepe from South Africa, who was elected on 12 March 2021 in an unopposed elections held in Rabat, Morocco.[5]
On 18 September 2017, CAF launched a competition for all African composers to create its anthem without lyrics to reflect the cultural patrimony and the music of Africa.[6] The chosen anthem, whose composer are to this day unknown and is 74 seconds in length, was first published to the site on 16 January 2008 and it is the entry song for every official CAF competition match. It is also used for every official competition match of the sub-confederations of CAF including WAFU, COSAFA and CECAFA.
Some African states with limited or no international recognition have official national teams, but none have been considered for CAF membership. Instead, they are affiliated with organizations such as CONIFA.
For men's national teams, the main competition is the Africa Cup of Nations, which began in 1957. In 2009, the CAF began organizing another competition for men's national teams, the African Nations Championship, this time featuring players playing in their respective national leagues. CAF also runs national competitions at Under-20 and Under-17 levels, which also serve as qualification tournaments for the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the FIFA U-17 World Cup respectively.
CAF also runs the two main club competitions in Africa: the CAF Champions League, first held in 1964 as the African Cup of Champions Clubs (or just African Cup) and rebranded in 1997 for the champions of African leagues and the runners-up league-finished teams of the top 12 ranked national associations; and the CAF Confederation Cup, launched in 2004 as a merger of the African Cup Winners' Cup, which begun in 1975, and a third competition, the CAF Cup, which started in 1992, for national cup winners and the 3rd-placed league-finished teams of the top 12 ranked national associations.[10]
The CAF Super Cup, which pits the winners of the CAF Champions League against the winners of the CAF Confederation Cup (previously the winners of the African Cup Winners' Cup), was launched in 1993.
The CAF Women's Champions League was founded on 12 September 2020,[11][12] involving the champions of CAF's sub-confederation qualification tournaments for women's club teams.
In October 2004, South African telecommunications giant, MTN, contracted a 4-year deal to sponsor CAF competitions worth US$12.5 million, which was the biggest sponsorship deal in African sporting history at that time.[13]
CAF opened new sponsorship callouts when MTN's contract expired and French telecommunications giant, Orange scooped it up in July 2009, signing an 8-year comprehensive long-term undisclosed deal to sponsor CAF competitions with a value of €100 million.[14]
On 21 July 2016, French energy and petroleum giant, Total S.A., replaced Orange as the main sponsor with an 8-year sponsorship package from CAF for a value of €950 million[15] to support its competitions.[16] Total rebranded as TotalEnergies in 2021, although its sponsorship with CAF continued under the new name.[17]
Update as of 3 August 2022 in chronological order.
By country
The following table lists all the countries whose clubs have won at least one CAF competition. Egyptian clubs are the most successful, with a total of 41 titles. Egyptian clubs hold a record number of wins in the African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League (16), the now-defunct African Cup Winners' Cup (8), the CAF Super Cup (12) and the now-defunct Afro-Asian Club Championship (3), followed by Tunisian clubs with 24 titles and they have the most victories in the now-defunct CAF Cup (4). In third place overall, Moroccan clubs have secured 23 titles and they have the most victories in the CAF Confederation Cup (7).
Rankings are calculated by the CAF based on points gathered by African teams throughout their participation in international club tournaments organized by either FIFA or CAF since the establishment of the first African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1964.[20]
a number between brackets is the rank of the previous week.
(*)= Provisional ranking (played at least 10 matches)
(**)= Inactive for more than 24 months
1
5
