2007 CAF Champions League Final

The 2007 CAF Champions League Final was the final of the 2007 CAF Champions League, the 43rd edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 11th edition under the current CAF Champions League format.

2007 CAF Champions League Final
Cairo International Stadium hosted the podium where Étoile du Sahel lifted the trophy
Event2007 CAF Champions League
Étoile du Sahel Al-Ahly
3 1
First leg
Étoile du Sahel Al-Ahly
0 0
Date27 October 2007
VenueStade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse
RefereeEvehe Divine (Cameroon)
Attendance25,000
Second Leg
Al-Ahly Étoile du Sahel
1 3
Date9 November 2007
VenueCairo International Stadium, Cairo
RefereeAbderrahim El Arjoun (Morocco)
Attendance74,000

The final was played between Étoile du Sahel from Tunisia and Al-Ahly from Egypt. After a goal-less first leg, EsS Sahel won the second leg 3–1 in Cairo to win their first African title . As a result, ES Sahel qualified to enter the quarterfinals of the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup as the CAF representative, as well as participate in the 2008 CAF Super Cup against the winner of the 2007 CAF Confederation Cup.

Qualified teams

In the following table, finals until 1996 were in the African Cup of Champions Club era, since 1997 were in the CAF Champions League era.

Team Region Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners)
Étoile du Sahel UNAF (North Africa) 2004, 2005
Al Ahly UNAF (North Africa) 1982, 1983, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006

Background

Both teams had met in the same round in 2005 when the Egyptian team won (3-0) in Cairo. Al-Ahly were the defending champions, and also the most successful club in the African Champions Cup/CAF Champions League with Zamalek, reaching a total of six finals, winning five (1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006) and losing one (1983). Étoile du Sahel reached the final twice but they lost against Enyimba in 2004 and against Al Ahly in 2005. Both teams qualified as winners of their groups.

Both teams qualified for the semifinals on the second-last matchday. In the semifinals Étoile du Sahel defeated the Sudanese side Al Hilal 3–2 on aggregate, losing the first leg in Omdurman (1-2), with the second leg ending in a win (3-1). Al Ahly faced Al Iittihad from Libya and draw the first leg (0-0) away from home. In need of a win in the second leg, Al Ahly were victorious 1–0 and reached the final to face Étoile du Sahel again after 2 years.

Venues

Stade Olympique de Sousse
Stade Olympique in Sousse, Tunisia hosted the first leg.

Stade olympique de Sousse is a multi-purpose stadium in Sousse, Tunisia. It is used by the football team Étoile du Sahel, and was used for the 2004 African Cup of Nations. The stadium holds 28,000 people. It hosts within it the meetings played by the football team of the city: Étoile sportive du Sahel (ESS).

For many decades, Sousse footballers knew only the clay surfaces and knew the turf surfaces only when the stadium was inaugurated with an initial capacity of 10,000 places. It passes over the years to 15,000 seats and is then expanded again on the occasion of the 1994 African Cup of Nations with 6,000 additional seats to reach a capacity of 21,000 seats; A luminous panel is installed at the same time. The last expansion was carried out in 1999 to bring the capacity of the stadium to 28,000 seats for the 2001 Mediterranean Games, a reorganization of the gallery of honor was carried out, from a capacity of 70 to 217 places.

It hosted 1977 FIFA World Youth Championship, 1994 African Cup of Nations, 2001 Mediterranean Games and 2004 African Cup of Nations.

Cairo International Stadium
International Stadium in Cairo, Egypt hosted the second leg.

Cairo International Stadium, formerly known as Nasser Stadium, is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000.[1] The architect of the stadium is the German Werner March, who had built from 1934 to 1936 the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Before becoming an all seater stadium, it had the ability to hold over 100,000 spectators, reaching a record of 120,000. It is the foremost Olympic-standard facility befitting the role of Cairo, Egypt as the center of events in the region. It is also the 69th largest stadium in the world. Located in Nasr City; a suburb north east of Cairo, it was completed in 1960, and was inaugurated by President Gamal Abd El Nasser on 23 July that year, the eighth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Zamalek SC currently use the Petro Sport Stadium for most of their home games and Al Ahly use Al Salam Stadium for most of their home games.

The Stadium is located about 10 km west of Cairo International Airport and about 10 km[2] (30 min) from downtown Cairo.

In 2005, in preparation for the 2006 African Cup of Nations it underwent a major renovation, and was brought up to 21st century world standard along with all its multi-game Olympic facilities which did not enable the same two teams to play the 2005 final on this stadium.

Road to final
Further information: 2007 CAF Champions League
Étoile du Sahel Round Al-Ahly
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Qualifying rounds Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Fello Star 5–1 1–0 (A) 4–1 (H) First round Highlanders 2–0 0–0 (A) 2–0 (H)
Maranatha 3–0 0–0 (A) 3–0 (H) Second round Mamelodi Sundowns 4–2 2–2 (A) 2–0 (H)
Opponent Result Group stage Opponent Result
FAR Rabat 1–0 (A) Matchday 1 Al-Hilal 2–0 (H)
Al-Ittihad 0–0 (H) Matchday 2 ASEC Mimosas 1–0 (A)
JS Kabylie 3–0 (H) Matchday 3 Espérance de Tunis 3–0 (H)
JS Kabylie 2–0 (A) Matchday 4 Espérance de Tunis 0–1 (A)
FAR Rabat 0–0 (H) Matchday 5 Al-Hilal 0–3 (A)
Al-Ittihad 0–2 (A) Matchday 6 ASEC Mimosas 2–0 (H)
Group A Winner
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Étoile du Sahel 6 3 2 1 6 2 +4 11
Al-Ittihad 6 3 1 2 6 4 +2 10
JS Kabylie 6 2 1 3 6 8 −2 7
FAR Rabat 6 1 2 3 2 6 −4 5
Source:
Final standings
Group B Winner
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Al Ahly SC 6 4 0 2 8 4 +4 12
Al-Hilal 6 3 1 2 8 5 +3 10
ASEC Mimosas 6 2 1 3 4 5 −1 7
Espérance 6 1 2 3 2 8 −6 5
Source:
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Knock-out stage Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Al Hilal 5–4 1–2 (A) 3–1 (H) Semifinals Al Ittihad 1–0 0–0 (A) 1–0 (H)

Format

The final was decided over two legs, with aggregate goals used to determine the winner. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule would have been applied, and if still level, the tie would have proceeded directly to a penalty shootout (no extra time is played).[3]

Matches

First leg
Étoile du Sahel 0–0 Al-Ahly
Rapport
Attendance: 25,000
Étoile du Sahel
Al Ahly
ES Sahel:
GK1 Aymen Mathlouthi
DF13 Saber Ben Frej 30'
DF4 Radhouene Felhi
DF6 Saïf Ghezal 72'
DF10 Mehdi Meriah 79'
MF19 Mohamed Ali Nafkha
MF24 Moussa Narry
MF25 Mouritala Ogunbiyi 84'
MF5 Mejdi Traoui ?' 66'
MF14 Gilson Silva
FW21 Amine Chermiti 24'
Substitutes:
FW16 Sadat Bukari 66'
DF4 Hatem Bejaoui 84'
Manager:
Bertrand Marchand
Al Ahly:
GK1 Essam El Hadary
DF4 Emad El-Nahhas
DF26 Wael Gomaa
DF7 Shady Mohamed
DF2 Islam El-Shater 90'
DF25 Hossam Ashour
MF17 Anis Boujelbene
MF5 Ahmad El-Sayed 12'
MF8 Mohamed Barakat 18'
MF22 Mohamed Aboutrika 87'
FW23 Flávio 82' 84'
Substitutes:
MF9 Emad Meteb 84'
FW6 Ahmed Sedik 87'
MF18 Osama Hosny 90'
Manager:
Manuel José

Assistant referees:
Efarist Mikwande (Cameroon)
Zogo Ndang (Cameroon)
Fourth official:
Fathi Amina (Tunisia)

Second leg
Al Ahly 1–3 Étoile du Sahel
El-Nahhas  48' Rapport Gharbi  44'
Chermiti  90+3'
Narry  90+5'
Attendance: 74,000
Al Ahly
Étoile du Sahel
GK1 Essam El Hadary
DF4 Emad El-Nahhas 61'
DF7 Shady Mohamed
MF5 Ahmad El-Sayed
DF2 Islam El-Shater 46'
DF12 Gilberto 75'
DF25 Hossam Ashour
MF17 Anis Boujelbene 66'
MF22 Mohamed Aboutrika
MF9 Emad Meteb
FW23 Flávio
Substitutes:
MF9 Hassan Mostafa 46'
FW6 Mohamed Sedik 66'
MF18 Ahmed Shedid 75'
Manager:
Manuel José
GK1 Aymen Mathlouthi ?'
DF13 Saber Ben Frej ?'
DF4 Radhouene Felhi ?'
DF5 Ammar Jemal
DF6 Hatem Bejaoui
MF24 Moussa Narry
DF19 Mohamed Ali Nafkha
MF25 Mouritala Ogunbiyi 84'
MF10 Afouene Gharbi 66'
MF7 Gilson Silva 87'
FW27 Amine Chermiti
Substitutes:
FW18 Mejdi Traoui ?' 66'
MF26 Bassem Ben Nasser 84'
MF15 Mahmoud Khemiri 87'
Manager:
Bertrand Marchand

Assistant referees:
Ayoub Mohamed (Morocco)
Radhouan Achik (Morocco)
Fourth official:
Walid Ibrahim (Egypt)

Notes and references
  1. "International Cairo Stadium". www.cairo-stadium.org.eg. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  2. "Distance & Directions from Cairo Stadium to Downtown". Google. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  3. Regulations of the CAF Champions League
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