{"id":86478,"date":"2025-09-22T16:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league"},"modified":"2025-09-22T17:45:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:45:35","slug":"record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league","title":{"rendered":"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of the Preliminary Rounds of Africa\u2019s premier club football competition.<\/b><\/p>\n

This edition sets a new record, with 62 clubs registered to participate, the highest number in the tournament\u2019s history. The milestone reflects CAF\u2019s continued efforts to expand access and raise the competitive standard of African club football.<\/p>\n

In a major boost for participating teams, CAF has introduced a new financial support initiative: clubs eliminated in the first and second preliminary rounds will each receive USD 100,000 to help cover logistical costs. This move is aimed at easing financial burdens and encouraging wider participation from across the continent.<\/p>\n

The first-leg matches of the Preliminary Round will take place from 19\u201321 September 2025, with second-leg fixtures scheduled for 26\u201328 September 2025. Winners will advance to the Second Preliminary Round, set for 17\u201319 October (first leg) and 24\u201326 October (second leg).<\/p>\n

The highly anticipated Group Stage begins on 21 November 2025, and the competition will culminate in the knockout phase, starting 13 March 2026.<\/p>\n

While several of Africa\u2019s club giants won\u2019t feature in the opening weekend, the draw held last month in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, has produced several exciting early matchups.<\/p>\n

Notably, RS Berkane, winners of last season\u2019s CAF Confederation Cup and newly crowned Moroccan champions, will debut in this season\u2019s Champions League with a clash against Togo\u2019s ASC Kara.<\/p>\n

Orlando Pirates, who reached the semi-finals last season, will face a tricky opening test against Lesotho\u2019s Lioli FC, while Zambia\u2019s Power Dynamos are set for a tough battle against Ivorian giants ASEC Mimosas.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of the Preliminary Rounds of Africa\u2019s premier club football competition. This edition sets a new record, with 62 clubs registered to participate, the highest number in the tournament\u2019s history. The milestone reflects CAF\u2019s continued efforts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":86477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-86478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nRecord Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-22T16:31:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-22T17:45:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-22T16:31:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-22T17:45:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league\",\"name\":\"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-22T16:31:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-22T17:45:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of t ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League - Gambia","description":"The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of t ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League","og_description":"The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of t ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-09-22T16:31:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-22T17:45:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League","datePublished":"2025-09-22T16:31:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-22T17:45:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league"},"wordCount":286,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg","keywords":["Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league","name":"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-22T16:31:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-22T17:45:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The 2025\/26 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League officially kicks off this Friday, marking the start of t ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758550360.07894.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/record-number-of-clubs-set-for-2025-26-caf-champions-league#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Record Number of Clubs Set for 2025\/26 CAF Champions League"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}