2017 CAF Confederation Cup qualifying rounds

Draw

The draw for the preliminary round and first round was held on 21 December 2016 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

The entry round of the 52 teams entered into the draw was determined by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons.

Entry round	First round	Preliminary round
Teams	CS Sfaxien ZESCO United ASEC Mimosas Smouha Djoliba Recreativo do Libolo Al-Ahly Shendi Club Africain SM Sanga Balende Onze Créateurs AS Kaloum Azam	Al-Masry Renaissance du Congo JS Kabylie MC Alger Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid Platinum Stars SuperSport United Étoile du Congo CARA Brazzaville IR Tanger MAS Fez SC Gagnoa Yong Sports Academy APEJES Academy Wikki Tourists Ifeanyi Ubah Bechem United Al-Hilal Benghazi Defence Force Orapa United AS SONABEL Le Messager Ngozi Volcan Club Racing de Micomeseng Akanda Ulinzi Stars Monrovia Club Breweries ASSM Elgeco Plus Pamplemousses UD Songo AS Douanes Niamey Rayon Sports ASC Niarry Tally St Michel United RSLAF Wau Salaam Mbabane Swallows Vipers KVZ Ngezi Platinum

Format

In the qualifying rounds, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still tied, extra time would not be played, and the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.

Schedule

The schedule of each round was as follows.

Round	First leg	Second leg
Preliminary round	10–12 February 2017	17–19 February 2017
First round	10–12 March 2017	17–19 March 2017
Play-off round	7–9 April 2017	14–16 April 2017

Bracket

The bracket of the draw was announced by the CAF on 21 December 2016.

The 16 winners of the first round advanced to the play-off round, where they were joined by the 16 losers of the Champions League first round.

Preliminary round

The preliminary round included the 40 teams that did not receive byes to the first round.

First round

The first round included 32 teams: the 20 winners of the preliminary round, and the 12 teams that received byes to this round.

Play-off round

The play-off round included 32 teams: the 16 winners of the Confederation Cup first round and the 16 losers of the Champions League first round.

The draw for the play-off round was held on 21 March 2017, 11:00 EET, at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. The winners of the Confederation Cup first round were drawn against the losers of the Champions League first round, with the teams from the Confederation Cup hosting the second leg.
The 32 teams were seeded by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons :

• Pot A contained the four highest-ranked losers of the Champions League first round.
• Pot B contained the twelve lowest-ranked winners of the Confederation Cup first round.
• Pot C contained the four highest-ranked winners of the Confederation Cup first round.
• Pot D contained the twelve lowest-ranked losers of the Champions League first round.

First, a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B were drawn into four ties. Next, a team from Pot C and a team from Pot D were drawn into four ties. Finally, the remaining teams from Pot B and Pot D were drawn into the last eight ties.

Pot	Pot A	Pot B	Pot C	Pot D
Qualified from	Champions League	Confederation Cup	Confederation Cup	Champions League
Teams	TP Mazembe AC Léopards FUS Rabat Young Africans	Recreativo do Libolo JS Kabylie MC Alger Al-Masry IR Tanger MAS Fez Rayon Sports Platinum Stars SuperSport United Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid Mbabane Swallows Club Africain	CS Sfaxien ZESCO United ASEC Mimosas Smouha	Rail Club du Kadiogo AS Tanda CF Mounana Gambia Ports Authority Horoya Barrack Young Controllers CNaPS Sport AS Port-Louis 2000 Enugu Rangers Rivers United Bidvest Wits KCCA

The 16 winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage.