All 54 CAF member associations may enter the CAF Champions League, with the 12 highest ranked associations according to the CAF 5-year ranking eligible to enter two teams in the competition.[2] As a result, a maximum of 68 teams could enter the tournament – although this level has never been reached.
For this season's edition, CAF will use the 2019–2024 CAF 5-year ranking, which calculates points for each entrant association based on their clubs’ performance over the 5 years in the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The criteria for the points are as follows:[3][4][5]
The Libyan Premier League was not finished by the CAF deadline for associations to submit teams participating in this season's CAF competitions. CAF approved a request made by the Libyan Football Federation to submit the names of participating teams in the competition following the end of the season by 22 July 2024, and as a result, Libyan teams were listed as Libya 1 and Libya 2 during the draw; as their identity was still unknown by the time of the draw.[6]
Schedule
The schedule of the qualifying tournament is as follows.
The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 11 July 2024, 12:00 GMT (15:00 local time, UTC+3), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[8]
In the qualifying rounds, each tie will be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score will be tied after the second leg, the away goals rule will be applied, and if still tied, extra time will not be played, and a penalty shoot-out will be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14).