Angola, South Africa and Zambia have been confirmed among the 12 countries who will given an added slot in next season’s African club competitions, meaning two teams in each of the African Champions League and African Confederation Cup.

The best 12 ranked countries are determined by how well their clubs do in the two competitions over a five year period, with points awarded but weighted, with more points for recent exploits.

The other countries allowed two representatives are Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania and Tunisia.
For Tanzania, it is the first time that they have been allowed two clubs per competition.

Next season’s African club competition will begin in September with the group phase kicking off in February but the finals being played in May.

The schedule for both the Champions League and Confederation Cup moved back to its normal timing after this season’s programme had been drastically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic and only got underway late in the year with the finals to be decided next month.

The preliminaries for the 2021-22 competitions get underway on the weekend of September 10-12. There are always two rounds of knockout games for the Champions League and three for the Confederation Cup, and will be completed by early December.

The group stage for both competitions starts in February and will be played swiftly over the following eight weeks.

The quarter-finals are on successive weekends in April and semi-finals on successive weekends in May. The dates for the two finals are still to be confirmed but will take place between May 22-29.