Arab Club Champions Cup
Organising bodyUAFA
Founded1981 (1981)
RegionArab world
Number of teams37
Current championsSaudi Arabia Al-Nassr
(1st title)
Most successful club(s)Iraq Al-Rasheed
Tunisia Espérance de Tunis
(3 titles each)
Websiteuafa-ac.com
2023 Arab Club Champions Cup

The Arab Club Champions Cup (Arabic: كأس العرب للأندية الأبطال, French: Ligue des Champions Arabe)[1] is a seasonal club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by top-division clubs from the Arab world. The tournament is contested by a total of 37 teams from the Asian Football Confederation and the Confederation of African Football.

Founded in 1981, the tournament was held alongside the Arab Cup Winners' Cup and the Arab Super Cup throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, until the Cup Winners' Cup and Super Cup were merged with the Champions Cup in 2002. The tournament's first ever champions were Iraqi club Al-Shorta, who defeated Lebanese side Nejmeh in the final over two legs in 1982.[2]

Saudi Arabian clubs have accumulated the most victories, with nine wins. The title has been won by 20 clubs, eight of which have won the title more than once. Since the tournament was merged with the Cup Winners' Cup, only ES Sétif of Algeria have managed consecutive wins, successfully defending their title in 2008. Iraqi club Al-Rasheed and Tunisian side Espérance de Tunis share the record for most titles, with three each. The reigning champions are Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia, who won their first title in 2023.

History

List of winners
SeasonWinners
Arab Club Champions Cup
1981–82 Iraq Al-Shorta
1984 Saudi Arabia Al-Ettifaq
1985 Iraq Al-Rasheed
1986 Iraq Al-Rasheed (2)
1987 Iraq Al-Rasheed (3)
1988 Saudi Arabia Al-Ettifaq (2)
1989 Morocco Wydad Casablanca
1992 Saudi Arabia Al-Shabab
1993 Tunisia Espérance de Tunis
1994 Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
1995 Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal (2)
1996 Egypt Al Ahly
1997 Tunisia Club Africain
1998 Algeria WA Tlemcen
1999 Saudi Arabia Al-Shabab (2)
2000 Tunisia Club Sfaxien
2001 Qatar Al-Sadd
Arab Unified Club Championship
2002 Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli Saudi
2003 Egypt Zamalek
Arab Champions League
2003–04 Tunisia Club Sfaxien (2)
2004–05 Saudi Arabia Al-Ittihad Jeddah
2005–06 Morocco Raja Casablanca
2006–07 Algeria ES Sétif
2007–08 Algeria ES Sétif (2)
2008–09 Tunisia Espérance de Tunis (2)
UAFA Club Cup
2012–13 Algeria USM Alger
Arab Club Championship
2017 Tunisia Espérance de Tunis (3)
Arab Club Champions Cup
2018–19 Tunisia Étoile du Sahel
2019–20 Morocco Raja Casablanca (2)
2023 Saudi Arabia Al-Nassr

The Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) decided to create a competition for champions of Arab countries after the end of the 1979–80 season.[3] Domestic champions from UAFA's member nations were invited to compete, but after several withdrawals, only three teams from Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan ended up participating.[4] The competition kicked off on 19 June 1981 with Lebanese champions Nejmeh beating Jordanian champions Al-Ahli 2–1.[5][6] Nejmeh's Jamal Al-Khatib was the scorer of the first ever Arab Club Champions Cup goal.[7] Nejmeh and Al-Shorta competed in the inaugural final in February 1982, with Al-Shorta winning 4–2 on aggregate at Al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad to be crowned the first ever champions of the Arab world.[8]

The tournament was not held the following year but returned in 1984 in a round-robin format, and Al-Ettifaq earned the first title for a Saudi Arabian club that year.[9] With the number of participants increasing every year, UAFA introduced preliminary qualifying rounds that preceded the final round-robin tournament, before they changed the format of the final tournament in 1987 to one that consisted of a group stage followed by a knockout stage.[10] UAFA also started to allow countries to have more than one participant in 1987, with two Saudi Arabian clubs (Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal) and two Iraqi clubs (Al-Rasheed and Al-Jaish) competing.[11] Al-Rasheed of Iraq dominated the competition during these years, becoming the first team to win three consecutive championships in 1985, 1986 and 1987, while Al-Ettifaq won their title back in 1988.[12] From 1981 to 1988, no team from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was able to win the tournament and all winners were from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).[13]

An African club became champions of the Arab world for the first time in 1989 as Wydad Casablanca of Morocco beat Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal in the final.[14] That same year, UAFA founded a new annual competition that would be held alongside the Arab Club Champions Cup; it was called the Arab Cup Winners' Cup and was a competition for the cup winners of Arab countries, with a similar format to that of the Champions Cup.[15] In 1992, UAFA introduced the Arab Super Cup which was an annual round-robin competition between the winners and runners-up of both the Champions Cup and Cup Winners' Cup.[16] From 1989 until 2001, there were six winners from CAF and five from the AFC.[17] Four of the eleven winners during this time were from Saudi Arabia, while Espérance de Tunis earned the first win for a Tunisian team in 1993, Al-Ahly became the first Egyptian champions in 1995, WA Tlemcen earned Algeria's first title in 1998 and Al-Sadd won the first title for a Qatari club in 2001.[18]

In 2002, UAFA made a decision that changed the face of Arab continental football.[3] With the increasing number of commitments facing Arab clubs in the modern era, UAFA decided to merge the Cup Winners' Cup and Super Cup with the Champions Cup to form the Arab Unified Club Championship, which would be the only UAFA club tournament.[17] Two editions of the tournament were played under this name, with Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia winning in 2002 and Zamalek winning in 2003.[19] After the 2003 edition, ART became the tournament's sponsor and UAFA then changed the name of the tournament to the Arab Champions League so that its name was similar to other elite continental tournaments such as the UEFA Champions League, CAF Champions League, AFC Champions League and OFC Champions League.[13] Tunisia's Club Sfaxien became the first winners of the Champions League era.[20] From the 2004–05 edition onwards, UAFA reintroduced two-legged finals, which had not been used since the very first edition of the tournament.[4]

A match between Fahman and US Montasir at the 2023 edition.

After title wins for Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad and Morocco's Raja Casablanca, ES Sétif of Algeria became the first back-to-back winners in the Champions League era by claiming both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 titles.[9] After the 2008–09 edition won by Espérance de Tunis of Tunisia, UAFA ran into organisational problems due to issues with the tournament's new sponsor.[13] This prevented the tournament from being held for four years until it resurfaced in 2012–13 under the new name of UAFA Club Cup, with Algeria's USM Alger earning their first title.[21] However, UAFA then ran into the same problems as before which led to another four-year hiatus.[9] The competition was held again in 2017 under the name of Arab Club Championship with 20 competing teams; the group stage and knockout stage were held in Egypt and the final was held as a single leg.[22] Espérance de Tunis were crowned champions making them the joint-most successful team in the competition's history.[13]

The number of teams doubled to 40 for the 2018–19 season where the competition was renamed to Arab Club Champions Cup and its format was changed.[23] The 2023 edition of the tournament was widely covered by international media due to the participation of a number of high-profile players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kanté following their transfers to Saudi Pro League clubs.[24] Out of the thirteen champions crowned from 2002 to 2023, ten of them were from Africa and only three were from Asia.[9]

Branding

The signing ceremony for the TV broadcasting rights for the 2017 edition.

Since the 2018–19 season, the competition has been named Arab Club Champions Cup, while each edition of the tournament also has its own special name based on the host nation of the tournament or host of the final match. The 2019 final was hosted in the United Arab Emirates, therefore the 2018–19 edition was named the Zayed Champions Cup to mark 100 years since the birth of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the United Arab Emirates.[25] The 2020 final was hosted in Morocco, therefore the 2019–20 edition was named the Mohammed VI Champions Cup after Mohammed VI of Morocco.[26] The 2023 edition of the tournament was hosted in Saudi Arabia from the group stage onwards, and was thus named King Salman Club Cup after Salman of Saudi Arabia.[27]

The logo of the Arab Club Champions Cup is a white circle with a grey outline, featuring navy, red, purple and green patterning with a navy diamond in the centre bearing the words Arab Champions in Arabic. The name of the competition in both English and Arabic features at the bottom of the logo. The logo is adapted slightly for each edition of the tournament to reflect the name and host nation of that specific edition.[28]

Prize money

As of 2023, the fixed amount of prize money paid to participating clubs is as follows:[29]

Prize money
Winners$6,000,000
Runners-up$2,500,000
Semi-finalists$200,000
Quarter-finalists$150,000
Group stage$100,000
Qualifying rounds$20,000

Team records and statistics

Performance by club

Performances in the Arab Club Champions Cup by club
Club Title(s) Runners-up Seasons won Seasons runner-up
Tunisia Espérance de Tunis 3 2 1993, 2009, 2017 1986, 1995
Iraq Al-Rasheed 3 0 1985, 1986, 1987 —
Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal 2 3 1994, 1995 1989, 2019, 2023
Saudi Arabia Al-Shabab 2 1 1992, 1999 1998
Tunisia Club Sfaxien 2 1 2000, 2004 2005
Morocco Raja Casablanca 2 1 2006, 2020 1996
Saudi Arabia Al-Ettifaq 2 0 1984, 1988 —
Algeria ES Sétif 2 0 2007, 2008 —
Saudi Arabia Al-Ittihad 1 3 2005 1987, 1994, 2020
Morocco Wydad Casablanca 1 2 1989 2008, 2009
Tunisia Club Africain 1 2 1997 1988, 2002
Egypt Al Ahly 1 1 1996 1997
Iraq Al-Shorta 1 0 1982 —
Algeria WA Tlemcen 1 0 1998 —
Qatar Al-Sadd 1 0 2001 —
Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli 1 0 2002 —
Egypt Zamalek 1 0 2003 —
Algeria USM Alger 1 0 2013 —
Tunisia Étoile du Sahel 1 0 2019 —
Saudi Arabia Al-Nassr 1 0 2023 —
Syria Al-Jaish 0 2 — 1999, 2000
Jordan Al-Faisaly 0 2 — 2007, 2017
Lebanon Nejmeh 0 1 — 1982
Morocco KAC Kénitra 0 1 — 1984
Algeria USM El-Harrach 0 1 — 1985
Qatar Al-Arabi 0 1 — 1992
Bahrain Al-Muharraq 0 1 — 1993
Algeria MC Oran 0 1 — 2001
Kuwait Al-Kuwait 0 1 — 2003
Egypt Al-Ismaily 0 1 — 2004
Egypt ENPPI Club 0 1 — 2006
Kuwait Al-Arabi 0 1 — 2013

Performances by nation

Performances in finals by nation
Nation Titles Runners-up
 Saudi Arabia 9 7
 Tunisia 7 5
 Algeria 4 2
 Iraq 4 0
 Morocco 3 4
 Egypt 2 3
 Qatar 1 1
 Jordan 0 2
 Kuwait 0 2
 Syria 0 2
 Bahrain 0 1
 Lebanon 0 1

Performances by continent

Performances in finals by continent
Continent Titles Runners-up
Africa 16 14
Asia 14 16

Player records

Most goals

Sami Al-Jaber is the all-time top scorer of the competition.
Players who are still active are highlighted in boldface.
Rank Nation Player Goals
1 Saudi Arabia Sami Al-Jaber 26
2 Saudi Arabia Talal Al-Meshal 16
Tunisia Haykel Guemamdia 16
4 Tunisia Zoubair Essafi 14
5 Egypt Abdel Halim Ali 13
6 Morocco Mustapha Bidoudane 12
Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Harthi 12
Saudi Arabia Hamzah Idris 12
9 Brazil Romarinho 11
10 Algeria Abdelmalek Ziaya 10
Jordan Hassouneh Al-Sheikh 10
Jordan Mahmoud Shelbaieh 10
Saudi Arabia Essa Al-Mehyani 10
Brazil Sérgio Ricardo 10
Sudan Mohamed Abdelrahman 10
16 Algeria Lamouri Djediat 9
Morocco Salaheddine Bassir 9
Morocco Soufiane Alloudi 9
Saudi Arabia Mohammed Noor 9
Saudi Arabia Waleed Al-Gizani 9
Saudi Arabia Yousuf Al-Thunayan 9
Morocco Bouchaib El Moubarki 9
Mali Tenema N'Diaye 9
Senegal Papa Malick Ba 9
Iraq Ahmed Salah Alwan 9
Bahrain Talal Yousef 9
Egypt Ahmed Abdel Moneim 9
28 Egypt Gamal Hamza 8
Senegal Issa Aidara 8
Ivory Coast Rémi Adiko 8
Algeria Noureddine Daham 8
Iraq Haris Mohammed 8
Iraq Ahmed Radhi 8
Morocco Mohamed Madihi 8

See also

References

  1. ↑ "وقائع المؤتمر الصحفي لمدرب نادي القادسية الكويتي بعد التعادل 0/0 مع الزمالك في البطولة العربية – الاتحاد العربي لكرة القدم". 11 August 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  2. ↑ "Arab Club Champions Cup". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  3. 1 2 Al-Ahmed, Abu Baqir (6 November 2007). "حصاد الفرق العراقية في بطولات الاندية العربية خلال ربع قرن" (in Arabic). Kooora.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  4. 1 2 "نادي الشرطة سيدا للاندية العربية" (in Arabic). NIIIIS. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  5. ↑ "UAFA Competitions: 1981-82 Arab Club Champions Cup". Al-Shorta SC Website. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022.
  6. ↑ Gamal, Khaled (14 August 2018). "الخطيب سجل أول هدف في بطولة الأندية العربية عام 1981.. وكان في مباراة الأهلي!" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  7. ↑ Sarah, Raafat (8 January 2017). "يشهد الشهر المقبل أول مشاركة رسمية للاهلي في بطولة كاس الأندية الأسيوية أبطال الكأس" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  8. ↑ "Al-Shorta: Overview of History". Al-Shorta SC Website. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Arabian Champs. League Winners List". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  10. ↑ "5th Arab Club Champions Cup 1987". RSSSF. 13 January 2011. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  11. ↑ "لاول مرة فريقان عراقيان في بطولة الاندية العربية" (in Arabic). NIIIIS. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  12. ↑ "6th Arab Club Champions Cup 1988". RSSSF. 6 January 2003. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Arab Club Champions Cup". RSSSF. 7 March 2019. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  14. ↑ "Arab Clubs League Championship - Casablanca 1989". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  15. ↑ "Arab Cup Winners' Cup". RSSSF. 11 March 2002. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  16. ↑ "Arab Super Cup". RSSSF. 11 April 2001. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  17. 1 2 "بطولات الأندية العربية أبطال الدوري". Union of Arab Football Associations. Archived from the original on 11 July 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  18. ↑ "Arab Clubs League Championship 17 - 2001". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  19. ↑ "Arab Merged Clubs Championship 2003". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  20. ↑ "Arabian Champions League 2004". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  21. ↑ "Arab Cup of Club 2012/2013". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  22. ↑ "Arab Championship League 2017/2016". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  23. ↑ "Zayed Cup Championship League 2018". Goalzz.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  24. ↑ "Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice as Al-Nassr win first Arab Club Champions Cup title". BBC. 12 August 2023.
  25. ↑ "Al Hilal reach Zayed Champions Cup Final". Egypt Today. 16 April 2019.
  26. ↑ "Second Arab Club Champions Cup to bear the name of King Mohammed VI, announces Turki Al-Sheikh". North Africa Post. 17 April 2019.
  27. ↑ "New trophy unveiled for 2023 King Salman Club Cup". Arab News. 11 August 2023.
  28. ↑ "صورة: مواعيد مباريات كأس الملك سلمان للأندية العربية" (in Arabic). Kooora. 22 June 2023.
  29. ↑ "تفاصيل الجوائز المالية لمسابقة كأس الملك سلمان للأندية العربية" [Details of the financial prizes for the King Salman Cup for Arab clubs]. nessma.tv (in Arabic). Nessma TV. 15 February 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
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