Wikipedia

2017 Arab Club Championship

The 2017 Arab Club Championship was the 27th season[note 1] of the Arab World's inter-club football tournament organised by UAFA, and the first season since it was renamed from the UAFA Club Cup to the Arab Club Championship. The competition was won by Tunisian club Espérance de Tunis, who defeated Jordanian side Al-Faisaly 3–2 after extra time in the final to secure a joint-record third title.

2017 Arab Club Championship
Tournament details
Host countryEgypt (from group stage onwards)
DatesQualifying:
14 September 2016 – 4 March 2017
Competition proper:
22 July 2017 – 6 August 2017
Teams20 (from 2 confederations) (from 18 associations)
Final positions
ChampionsTunisia Espérance de Tunis (3rd title)
Runners-upJordan Al-Faisaly
Tournament statistics
Matches played36
Goals scored83 (2.31 per match)
Attendance755,000 (20,972 per match)
Top scorer(s)Morocco Mohamed Fouzair
(3 goals)

Allocation of entries

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The following team entries allocation was announced by the Union of Arab Football Associations on 20 June 2016.[1] Each association was given entry either to the qualifying play-off or to the group stage based on the FIFA World Ranking of the associations on 2 June 2016.[2] Only teams who were champions or runners-up of either their nation's league or one of their nation's cup competitions were allowed to participate in the tournament.

Participation for 2017 Arab Club Championship
Allocated group stage slot(s)
Allocated qualifying play-off slot
Did not participate
Notes
  1. ^
    Qatar were allocated one group stage slot, but chose not to participate due to scheduling difficulties with other tournaments.
  2. ^
    Kuwait were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but could not participate due to FIFA's suspension of its football association.
  3. ^
    Yemen were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but did not participate due to the suspension of footballing activity in the country.
  4. ^
    As the tournament's hosts (from the group stage onwards), Egypt were allocated two group stage slots as opposed to one, and Algeria were therefore allocated just one group stage slot rather than two.
  5. ^
    Libya were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but did not participate due to the suspension of footballing activity in the country.

Teams

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The following 20 teams from 18 associations entered the competition.

Notes
  1. ^
    Al-Wahda were a late replacement for Al-Ain (2015–16 UAE Pro-League runners-up and 2015–16 UAE President's Cup runners-up), who decided to withdraw from the tournament.
  2. ^
    Not including Al-Faisaly's appearance in the cancelled 1990 edition.

Venues

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The following three venues were chosen to host all matches from the group stage onwards.

Alexandria Alexandria
Borg El Arab Stadium Alexandria Stadium
Capacity: 86,000 Capacity: 13,660
   
Cairo
Al Salam Stadium
Capacity: 30,000
 

Schedule

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The schedule of the competition was as follows.[1][3]

Stage Round Date
Qualifying play-off Round 1 14 September 2016 – 4 March 2017
Round 2
Play-off round
Group stage Matchday 1 22 July – 6 August 2017
Matchday 2
Matchday 3
Knockout stage Semi-finals
Final

Qualifying play-off

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Main article: 2017 Arab Club Championship qualifying play-off

The qualifying play-off was held between 14 September 2016 and 4 March 2017. The three winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the nine direct entrants.

Preliminary round 1

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Asia Zone
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Riffa   1–5   Al-Ahed 0–1 1–4
Africa Zone
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts DJI DEK VOL
1   ASAS Djibouti Télécom[Note DJI] (H) 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2 — 1–1 0–0
2   Dekedaha 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2 — — 0–0
3   Volcan Club 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 — — —
Source: UAFA
(H) Hosts
Notes
  1. ^
    ASAS Djibouti Télécom qualified via a drawing of lots.

Preliminary round 2

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Asia Zone
Al-Ahed   3–0   Shabab Al-Khalil 1–0 2–0
Africa Zone
ASAS Djibouti Télécom   1–2   Al-Merrikh 1–1 0–1

Play-off round

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Asia Zone
Al-Jaish   0–1   Naft Al-Wasat 0–0 0–1
Al-Ahed   6–1   Fanja 2–1 4–0
Africa Zone
FC Tevragh-Zeina   2–3   Al-Merrikh 0–1 2–2

Group stage

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From the group stage onwards, the tournament was held in Egypt in the cities of Cairo and Alexandria. Twelve teams participated in the group stage, divided into three groups. The draw for the groups took place on 5 May 2017 in Cairo.[4][5] The top team of each group along with the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Al-Faisaly 3 3 0 0 4 1 +3 9 Advance to knockout stage
2   Al-Ahly 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6
3   NA Hussein Dey 3 1 0 2 3 3 0 3
4   Al-Wahda 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0
Source: Soccerway
NA Hussein Dey  2–0  Al-Wahda
Addadi   11'
Gasmi   45+1'		 Report
Attendance: 3,000
Al-Ahly  0–1  Al-Faisaly
Report Al-Rawashdeh   55'
Attendance: 10,000
Al-Faisaly  1–0  NA Hussein Dey
Mendy   52' Report
Attendance: 2,000
Al-Wahda  0–2  Al-Ahly
Report   32' Barakat
  84' Mohareb
Attendance: 6,000
Al-Wahda  1–2  Al-Faisaly
Batna   41' Report   76' Łukasz
  90+2' Zuway
Al-Ahly  2–1  NA Hussein Dey
Gomaa   74' (pen.)
Barakat   90+2'		 Report   61' Boulaouidet
Attendance: 13,000
Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Fath Union Sport 3 1 2 0 7 3 +4 5 Advance to knockout stage
2   Al-Ahed 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 5
3   Zamalek 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
4   Al-Nassr 3 0 1 2 2 7 −5 1
Source: Soccerway
Al-Nassr  1–1  Al-Ahed
Al-Shehri   37' Report   49' Diop
Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)
Zamalek  2–2  Fath Union Sport
Morsy   43' (pen.)
Shikabala   65'		 Report   8', 89' Diakité
Attendance: 6,000
Fath Union Sport  4–0  Al-Nassr
Fouzair   11', 29' (pen.), 32' (pen.)
El-Bahraoui   60'		 Report
Al-Ahed  1–0  Zamalek
Zreik   84' Report
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Qasim Al-Hatmi (Oman)
Al-Ahed  1–1  Fath Union Sport
Haidar   54' (pen.) Report   45' Ait Khoursa
Zamalek  2–1  Al-Nassr
Emam   1'
Hamdy   37'		 Report   11' Pereira

Group C

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Espérance de Tunis 3 3 0 0 6 2 +4 9 Advance to knockout stage
2   Al-Merrikh 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
3   Al-Hilal 3 0 2 1 5 6 −1 2
4   Naft Al-Wasat 3 0 1 2 3 5 −2 1
Source: Soccerway
Naft Al-Wasat  0–1  Espérance de Tunis
Report   83' Khenissi
Al-Merrikh  1–1  Al-Hilal
Al-Madina   71' Report   26' Al-Dawsari
Al-Hilal  2–2  Naft Al-Wasat
Al-Qahtani   52'
Zabani   58'		 Report   45+2' Ahmed
  80' Sadir
Espérance de Tunis  2–0  Al-Merrikh
Badri   21', 70' Report
Espérance de Tunis  3–2  Al-Hilal
Matri   45'
Jouini   58'
Chaalali   74'		 Report   49' Al-Yami
  60' Al-Rashidi
Al-Merrikh  2–1  Naft Al-Wasat
Abdul-Rahman   23' (pen.)
Osunwa   89'		 Report   2' Ahmed

Ranking of second-placed teams

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The highest ranked second-placed team from the groups advanced to the knockout stage; the rest were eliminated.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 A   Al-Ahly 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6 Advance to knockout stage
2 B   Al-Ahed 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 5
3 C   Al-Merrikh 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
Source: Soccerway

Knockout stage

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Matches were determined by a random draw.

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
2 August – Alexandria
 
 
  Al-Ahly1
 
6 August – Alexandria
 
  Al-Faisaly2
 
  Al-Faisaly2
 
3 August – Alexandria
 
  Espérance de Tunis (a.e.t.)3
 
  Fath Union Sport1
 
 
  Espérance de Tunis (a.e.t.)2
 

Semi-finals

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Al-Ahly  1–2  Al-Faisaly
Azaro   90+8' Report   26' Mendy
  37' (o.g.) Fathy
Fath Union Sport  1–2 (a.e.t.)  Espérance de Tunis
Semmoumy   28' Report   47' Chemmam
  95' (pen.) Khenissi

Final

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Main article: 2017 Arab Club Championship Final
Al-Faisaly  2–3 (a.e.t.)  Espérance de Tunis
Zuway   72'
Attiah   88'		 Report   46', 54' Bguir
  101' Dhaouadi
Attendance: 7,500

Top scorers

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Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.

Rank Player Club Goals
1   Mohamed Fouzair   Fath Union Sport 3
2   Amr Barakat   Al-Ahly 2
  Ziyad Ahmed   Naft Al-Wasat
  Akram Zuway   Al-Faisaly
  Dominique Mendy   Al-Faisaly
  Mohamad Haidar   Al-Ahed
  Lamine Diakité   Fath Union Sport
  Kelechi Osunwa   Al-Merrikh
  Bakri Al-Madina   Al-Merrikh
  Anice Badri   Espérance de Tunis
  Saad Bguir   Espérance de Tunis
  Taha Yassine Khenissi   Espérance de Tunis

Prize money

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UAFA announced that the winner will receive $2.5 million, while $600,000 will go to the runner-up and the losing semi-finalists will each get $200,000.[6][7]

Media

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The tournament gained international coverage for being the first football tournament to be broadcast live on Twitter, with all 21 matches from the group stage and knockout stage being shown for free on the competition's official Twitter account.[8]

Broadcasting

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Territory Channel
  Egypt ONTV
  Saudi Arabia Al-Riyadiah
  United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi TV

Notes

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  1. ^ Not including the cancelled 1990 edition.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Inviting the Arab Associations to Participate in the Arab Club Cup" (in Arabic). UAFA. 20 June 2016.
  2. ^ "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Men's Ranking". FIFA.com. 2 June 2016. Archived from the original on June 7, 2016.
  3. ^ تصفيات الدور الأول لكأس العرب للأندية بجيبوتي (in Arabic). UAFA. 14 September 2016.
  4. ^ اللجنة المنظمة للبطولة العربية للأندية تعقد اجتماعها الثاني بالخرطوم (in Arabic). UAFA. 5 March 2017.
  5. ^ "UAFA : 12 clubs retenus pour la Coupe" (in French). Dzfoot.com. 7 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Arab Club Championship Awards" (in Arabic). Ahram Sport. 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  7. ^ "The Development Arab Club Championship Awards from 2004 to 2017" (in Arabic). Goal. 21 July 2017.
  8. ^ "The Twitter tournament: This week in Middle East football". The New Arab. 26 July 2017.
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