CAF Champions League
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| Founded | 1964 (1997 in its current format) |
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| Region | Africa (CAF) |
| Number of teams | 8 (Group stage) 52 (Total) (from 44 associations) |
| Related competitions |
CAF Super Cup FIFA Club World Cup |
| Current champions |  Mamelodi Sundowns (1st title) |
| Most successful club(s) |  Al Ahly (8 titles) |
| Website | cafonline.com |
 2017 CAF Champions League
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The CAF Champions League is an annual international club football competition run by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The top club sides from Africa's football leagues are invited to participate in this competition, which is the premier club football competition in the continent and the equivalent to the UEFA Champions League. Due to sponsorship reasons, the official name is Orange CAF Champions League, with Orange Champions League also in use.
The winner of the tournament earns a berth for the FIFA Club World Cup, a tournament contested between the champion clubs from all six continental confederations, and also faces the winner of the CAF Confederation Cup in the following season's CAF Super Cup.
Egypt's Al Ahly is the most successful club in the competition's history, having won the tournament eight times. Egyptian clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories, winning the title 14 times. The reigning champions are Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, who secured their first win in the competition after defeating Zamalek SC in the 2016 final.
Initially, the competition saw the league champions of each national league existing under the jurisdiction of the CAF coming together over a 12-month period of home and away knock-out fixtures until the quarter-final, semi-final and final stage was reached for the winning team to be declared the African champion of champions.
Starting life as the 'African Champions Cup' in 1964, the first team to lift the trophy was Cameroonian side Oryx Douala, who beat Stade Malien of Mali 2-1 in a one-off final.
There was no tournament held the following year, but the action resumed again in 1966, when the two-legged ‘home and away’ final was introduced, which saw another Malian team AS Real Bamako take on Stade d'Abidjan of the Côte d'Ivoire. Bamako won the home leg 3-1 but it all came apart for them in the away game in Abidjan as the Ivorians went on to win 4-1 to take the title 5-4 on aggregate.
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