Who is awarded two berths and who is awarded four in CAF interclub tournaments? With each African allocated slots in the continental club competitions, how is it decided?
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Put simply, the top 12 nations in Africa are given four spots, two in the Champions League and two in the Confederation Cup, while places 13 and down are given one spot for each competition.
CAF calculate the continent's top 12 nations by using the 'Five-Year Ranking System' which basically takes a nation's success in the interclub tournaments and rewards each country according to what they manage to achieve.
The 'Five-Year Ranking' is based on a points system, and it covers a five-year period. As with the FIFA rankings, the value of the points is increased in relation to how recently they were acquired, and are subject to a multiplier. The more points that a country has, the higher up the ranking table they are.
How Are Points Gained?
Clubs only manage to add CAF points if they manage to reach the group stages of either the CCL or CCC, any team that drops out before the group stages will not add anything to their ranking.
The point allocation works as follows:
CCL -
Winner – 5 points
Runner-up – 4 points
Semifinalist – 3 points
3rd in group – 2 points
4th in group – 1 point
CCC –
Winner – 4 points
Runner-up – 3 points
Semifinalist – 2 points
3rd/4th in group – 1 point
So, for instance, in 2014, CCL winners, ES Setif, picked up five points, while CAFCC winners, Al Ahly, were given four.
The five-year system decides which countries get extra allocations, but for the sake of planning is back dated by one year. For example, the points for the 2016 edition in two years' time will ignore any achievements in 2015, using a nation's points from 2010 through to 2014.
As aforementioned, the points are subject to a multiplier relative to their recentness, so the multipliers for the 2016 edition will look like this:
2010 points – x1
2011 points – x2
2012 points – x3
2013 points – x4
2014 points – x5
To put this into practice, 2013 CCL finalists, Orlando Pirates, managed to secure two extra spots for South Africa following their exploits, jumping up the ranking table in this year's CAF tournaments because their four points were worth 20.
However, in 2016's tournament they will be worth 16, in 2017 12, 2018 8 and in 2019 they'll be worth just four points. Given that no other South African side has managed to reach the group stages of the CCL or CCC, Mzansi runs the dropping to just one spot for each tournament in the next five years.
The fact that the Buccaneers have reached the group stages of this year's CCC means that they're guaranteed at least one CAF point, a point that will be worth five going into the 2016 CAF interclub competitions.
Who Is On Top?
At present, and since 2011, Tunisia are sitting pretty on top of the 2016 CAF Five-Year Ranking System having picked up CAF points for several consecutive years now, and were helped dramatically by the fact that in 2014, the most valuable year for 2016, they picked up six points (worth 30) and in 2013 they got another 10 (worth 40).
For the 2016 rankings it is currently Egypt, Congo, Algeria and Sudan that sit in behind Tunisia, and that top five is expected to stay the same for the 2017 edition, however the teams may be in a different order.
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Certain nations are so deeply rooted inside CAF's top 12 that they will be guaranteed four CAF spots for the largely foreseeable future, however there are other countries further down the top 12 that need to see themselves or their rivals impressive in the CCL and CCC in order for them to gain/keep two spots in each competition.
