African football fans are looking forward to the refurbished top football competition in the continent. The 2025/26 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group stage brings together 16 elite sides, seven former African champions and the reigning title holders, in a group stage that kicks off this weekend before a blockbuster knockout run in 2026.
The group stage kicks off on 21 November and will last until 15 February 2026 after which the knockout phase starts on 13 March 2026 including a tournament pause during the Total Energies CAF AFCON in Morocco 2025.
The group stage of the top football competition comprises four groups:
Group A includes RS Berkane (Morocco), Pyramids FC (Egypt, defending champions), Rivers United (Nigeria), and Power Dynamos (Zambia).
Group B sees Ahly (Egypt, record 12-time winners), Young Africans (Tanzania), AS FAR (Morocco) and JS Kabylie (Algeria).
Group C includes Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), Al Hilal (Sudan), MC Alger (Algeria), and St Éloi Lupopo (DR Congo).
Group D contains Espérance de Tunis (Tunisia), Simba SC (Tanzania), Petro de Luanda (Angola), and Stade Malien (Mali).
The format of the group stage sees the16 teams playing in four groups of four teams in each group, where they play home and away round-robin, six games each. The top two per group advance to the quarter-finals. From the quarters onwards it’s two-legged knockouts leading to the final.
This season, CAF is delivering something new: “a refreshed interclub brand” dubbed ‘The Heartbeat of African Football ‘in which CAF has unveiled a bold new visual identity for its interclub competitions the Champions League and Confederation Cup.
As CAF wrote on their official website, the interclub competitions are built around the Heartbeat Wave, channeling the rhythm of African football: peak for clubs’ moments of triumph, flow for the movement of players and the game, and repetition for the drumbeat and chants of the fans. Expect the new look across broadcast, digital and event platforms throughout the campaign and record participation and added support in qualifying.
The road to the groups featured a record 62 clubs in the preliminary rounds. To help teams shoulder travel and logistics, CAF introduced a financial measure: clubs eliminated in the first two preliminary rounds receive $100,000.
The 2025-2026 prize money sees the champions collecting $4 million whereas the runners-up collects $2 million.
The interclub defending champions and record holders includes defending champions Pyramids FC (Egypt) — back to defend their crown and drawn with RS Berkane in a much-anticipated reunion after Pyramids edged the Moroccan giants in the recent CAF Super Cup.
Ahly of Egypt maintains their position as record title holders with 12 CAF Champions League titles. In Group B, Ahly join Young Africans, AS FAR and JS Kabylie.
Ahly and Espérance, modern powerhouses Mamelodi Sundowns and Pyramids, and dark horses like RS Berkane, Petro de Luanda, AS FAR and Simba are the historic giants of the stage.
With powerhouses like Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns, Espérance, and Pyramids FC all in contention, individual brilliance could prove decisive.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 27 November, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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