2017 CAF Confederation Cup


The 2017 CAF Confederation Cup was the 14th edition of the CAF Confederation Cup, Africa's secondary club football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football.
Starting from this season, the group stage was expanded from eight to 16 teams, divided into four groups of four, and the knockout stage expanded from 4 to 8 teams.
Defending champions TP Mazembe, which entered the Confederation Cup after losing in the 2017 CAF Champions League [|first round], defeated Supersport United in the final, and earned the right to play against the winners of the 2017 CAF Champions League in the 2018 CAF Super Cup.

Association team allocation

All 56 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Confederation Cup, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to their CAF 5-Year Ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition. As a result, theoretically a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF uses the 2011–2015 CAF 5-Year Ranking, which calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs’ performance over those 5 years in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup. The criteria for points are the following:
CAF Champions LeagueCAF Confederation Cup
Winners5 points4 points
Runners-up4 points3 points
Losing semi-finalists3 points2 points
3rd place in groups2 points1 point
4th place in groups1 point1 point

The points are multiplied by a coefficient according to the year as follows:
The following 52 teams from 40 associations entered the competition.
Associations are shown according to their 2011–2015 CAF 5-Year Ranking – those with a ranking score have their rank and score indicated.
A further 16 teams eliminated from the 2017 CAF Champions League enter the [|play-off round].
;Associations which did not enter a team
Notably one team takes part in the competition that does not currently play in their national top-division. They are MAS Fez.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.
The calendar was amended from the original one for the following dates:

Preliminary round

First round

Play-off round

Group stage

Tiebreakers

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Top goalscorers