Africa: How TotalEnergies CAF Interclub Holders Have Fared in Their Title Defence Over the Last Decade

The new TotalEnergies CAF Interclub season gets under way this weekend with Mamelodi Sundowns and USM Alger hoping to defend their titles in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup respectively.

Both have been handed byes through the First Preliminary Round and will enter their respective competitions in the next stage, but history suggests retaining continental silverware is an enormous challenge.

A look at the previous 10 completed title-defence campaigns, from 2017 through to 2025/26, shows there is a significant difference between the fortunes of reigning champions in CAF’s two major club competitions.

In the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, the holders have displayed remarkable consistency.

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Every one of the last 10 defending champions has reached at least the quarter-finals the following season. Six went on to the semi-finals, five returned to the final and three successfully retained the trophy.

That means the defending champion has reached the final in half of the last 10 editions and won the competition again on three occasions.

The first of those successful defences came from Espérance Sportive de Tunis. Having lifted the 2018 crown with an aggregate victory over Al Ahly, they returned in the shortened 2018/19 competition and retained their title against Wydad Casablanca.

Al Ahly have since managed the feat twice. The Egyptian giants won the 2019/20 title against Zamalek and followed that by beating Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 in the 2020/21 final, becoming champions in successive seasons.

Their attempt at an unprecedented third straight crown ended only in the 2021/22 final, where Wydad beat them 2-0.

Al Ahly then started another sequence after defeating Wydad 3-2 on aggregate in the 2022/23 final. They successfully defended that crown in 2023/24, edging Espérance 1-0 on aggregate, before their attempt at three in a row was halted by Sundowns in the 2024/25 semi-finals.

There have been near-misses elsewhere. Wydad followed their 2021/22 triumph by returning to the final a year later, only to lose to Al Ahly, while last season Pyramids FC became the 10th consecutive holder to reach at least the quarter-finals before eventual runners-up AS FAR ended their reign with a 3-2 aggregate victory.

The picture in the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup is more complicated.

Simply looking at how far the holders progressed the following season does not tell the whole story because winning the Confederation Cup does not necessarily mean returning to defend it.

Four of the champions in the corresponding 10-season period instead qualified for the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League the following campaign.

TP Mazembe followed their 2017 Confederation Cup triumph by playing in the 2018 Champions League, where they reached the quarter-finals before an away-goals exit to Primeiro de Agosto.

Zamalek won the 2018/19 Confederation Cup and then went considerably further in the Champions League the next season, reaching the final before losing 2-1 to Egyptian rivals Al Ahly.

Raja Casablanca took a similar route. After winning the 2020/21 Confederation Cup, they competed in the 2021/22 Champions League and reached the quarter-finals, where eventual finalists Al Ahly edged them 3-2 on aggregate.

Most recently, RS Berkane won their third Confederation Cup crown in 2024/25 but also claimed a historic first Moroccan league title, which took them into the Champions League rather than back to defend their Confederation Cup trophy.

They went all the way to the semi-finals in their debut Champions League group-stage campaign before losing 2-1 on aggregate to AS FAR.

And so every Confederation Cup champion in the last 10 seasons that moved into the Champions League the following campaign reached at least the quarter-finals of the competition.

Of the six champions who actually did return to defend the Confederation Cup, only one succeeded.

TP Mazembe retained their crown in 2017, beating SuperSport United in the final to make it successive titles. Since then, no club has successfully defended the trophy.

Raja went out in the group stages in 2018/19, as did RS Berkane in 2020/21. Berkane’s next title defence ended even earlier when US Monastir eliminated them 1-0 on aggregate in the Play-Off Round in 2022/23.

USM Alger came closest when their first title defence in 2023/24 took them to the semi-finals, while Zamalek reached the quarter-finals the following season before South African debutants Stellenbosch FC eliminated the holders.

That leaves the current USM Alger side with an opportunity to end a lengthy wait.

HOW TOTALENERGIES CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HOLDERS FARED THE FOLLOWING SEASON

Mamelodi Sundowns (2016)Next season: Quarter-finals – eliminated by Wydad Casablanca on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw.

Wydad Casablanca (2017)Next season: Quarter-finals – eliminated 1-0 on aggregate by ES Sétif.

Espérance Sportive de Tunis (2018)Next season: Winners – successfully retained the title.

Espérance Sportive de Tunis (2018/19)Next season: Quarter-finals – eliminated 3-2 on aggregate by Zamalek.

Al Ahly (2019/20)Next season: Winners – successfully retained the title.

Al Ahly (2020/21)Next season: Runners-up – lost 2-0 to Wydad Casablanca in the final.

Wydad Casablanca (2021/22)Next season: Runners-up – lost 3-2 on aggregate to Al Ahly.

Al Ahly (2022/23)

Next season: Winners – successfully retained the title.

Al Ahly (2023/24)Next season: Semi-finals – eliminated by Mamelodi Sundowns on away goals after a 1-1 aggregate draw.

Pyramids FC (2024/25)Next season: Quarter-finals – eliminated 3-2 on aggregate by AS FAR.

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