Ahead of the 2024/25 CAF interclub season, Al Ahly have remained in top spot of the African Club ranking, while Mamelodi Sundowns are the only Premier Soccer League club in the top 10.
There has been some notable movement in the top 10, with ES Tunis moving from third into second place, overtaking Rulani Mokwena’s Wydad Athletic Club after reaching the CAF Champions League final.
Wydad, meanwhile, dropped into third after failing to make it out of the 2023/24 CAFCL group stages, while Sundowns remained in fourth spot. Mokwena’s new side are expected to drop down further in the CAF ranking as they did not qualify for the 2024/25 CAF interclub campaign, which kicks off on Friday.
But it remains to be seen if they experience a similar drop to their bitter rivals Raja Club Athletic after they didn’t feature in CAF football last season and fell from fifth into 12th.
Meanwhile, the likes of Zamalek, RS Berkane, Simba SC, Petro de Luanda, TP Mazembe and Khanyisa Mayo’s new club, CR Belouizdad complete the current top 10.
- Al Ahly (Egypt) – 87 points
- Esperance (Tunisia) – 61 points
- Wydad AC (Morocco) – 60 points
- Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) – 54 points
- Zamalek (Egypt) – 48 points
- RS Berkane (Morocco) – 42 points
- Simba (Tanzania) – 39 points
- Petro de Luanda (Angola) – 39 points
- TP Mazembe (DR Congo) – 38 points
- CR Belouizdad (Algeria) – 36 points
How does the ranking work?
For this season’s edition of CAF football, CAF were using points collected over the last five years between 2019 and 2024.
All points collected for the 2023/24 season will be multiplied by five, while this coefficient goes down by one the further season you go back – meaning a multiplication of four for points in 2022/23, three for 2021/22, two 2020/21 and just one for 2020/21.
The winners of the CAF Champions League receive six points, in this case Al Ahly, while runners-up ES Tunis got five points. ASEC Mimosas and Sundowns, who were beaten in the semi-finals, received four points, respectively. The quarter-finalists got three points, while all teams finishing in third spot in the group stages got two, and the fourth-placed teams got just one.
Meanwhile, the points allocation for the CAF Confederations Cup is similar, with winners Zamalek receiving five points, runners-up RS Berkane got four points, the semi-finalists three points, quarter-finalists two points, group stage third-placed teams one point and group stage bottom-placed teams 0.5 points.
As a consequence, Al Ahly collected 30 points (6×5) in 2023/24, ES Tunis 25 (5×5) and Sundowns and ASEC got 20 (5×4), while CAF Confederations Cup winners Zamalek received 25 (5×5), while points collected in 2018/19 fell out of the five-year cycle.
