2007 CAF Champions League Final

2007 CAF Champions League Final

Cairo International Stadium hosted the second leg of the final
Event	2007 CAF Champions League
Étoile du Sahel Al-Ahly 3 1
First leg
Étoile du Sahel Al-Ahly 0 0
Date	27 October 2007
Venue	Stade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse
Referee	Evehe Divine (Cameroon)
Attendance	25,000
Second Leg
Al-Ahly Étoile du Sahel 1 3
Date	9 November 2007
Venue	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo
Referee	Abderrahim El Arjoun (Morocco)
Attendance	74,000

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.

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.

Road to final

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 Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD Étoile du Sahel 11 6 3 2 1 6 2 +4 Al Ittihad 10 6 3 1 2 6 4 +2 JS Kabylie 7 6 2 1 3 6 8 -2 FAR Rabat 5 6 1 2 3 2 6 -2				Final standings	Group B winner Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD Al Ahly SC 12 6 4 0 2 8 4 +4 Al Hilal FC 10 6 3 1 2 8 5 +3 ASEC Mimosas 7 6 2 1 3 4 5 -1 Espérance de Tunis 5 6 1 2 3 2 8 -6
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)

Rules

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).^[1]

First leg

27 October 200718:00 GMT

Étoile du Sahel	0–0	Al-Ahly
	Rapport

Stade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Evehe Divine (Cameroon)

Étoile du Sahel

Al Ahly

ES Sahel: GK 1 Aymen Mathlouthi DF 13 Saber Ben Frej  30' DF 4 Radhouene Felhi DF 6 Saïf Ghezal  72' DF 10 Mehdi Meriah  79' MF 19 Mohamed Ali Nafkha MF 24 Moussa Narry MF 25 Mouritala Ogunbiyi  84' MF 5 Mejdi Traoui    66' MF 14 Gilson Silva FW 21 Amine Chermiti  24' Substitutes: FW 16 Sadat Bukari  66' DF 4 Hatem Bejaoui  84' Manager: Bertrand Marchand

Al Ahly: GK 1 Essam El Hadary DF 4 Emad El-Nahhas DF 26 Wael Gomaa DF 7 Shady Mohamed DF 2 Islam El-Shater  90' DF 25 Hossam Ashour MF 17 Anis Boujelbene MF 5 Ahmad El-Sayed  12' MF 8 Mohamed Barakat  18' MF 22 Mohamed Aboutrika  87' FW 23 Flávio  82'  84' Substitutes: MF 9 Emad Meteb  84' FW 6 Ahmed Sedik  87' MF 18 Osama Hosny  90' Manager: Manuel José

Second leg

9 November 200717:30 GMT

Al Ahly	1–3	Étoile du Sahel
El-Nahhas  48'	Rapport	Gharbi  44' Chermiti  90+3' Narry  90+5'

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 74,000

Referee: Abderrahim El Arjoun (Morocco)

Al Ahly

Étoile du Sahel

GK 1 Essam El Hadary DF 4 Emad El-Nahhas  61' DF 7 Shady Mohamed MF 5 Ahmad El-Sayed DF 2 Islam El-Shater  46' DF 12 Gilberto  75' DF 25 Hossam Ashour MF 17 Anis Boujelbene  66' MF 22 Mohamed Aboutrika MF 9 Emad Meteb FW 23 Flávio Substitutes: MF 9 Hassan Mostafa  46' FW 6 Mohamed Sedik  66' MF 18 Ahmed Shedid  75' Manager: Manuel José

GK 1 Aymen Mathlouthi   DF 13 Saber Ben Frej   DF 4 Radhouene Felhi   DF 5 Ammar Jemal DF 6 Hatem Bejaoui MF 24 Moussa Narry DF 19 Mohamed Ali Nafkha MF 25 Mouritala Ogunbiyi  84' MF 10 Afouene Gharbi  66' MF 7 Gilson Silva  87' FW 27 Amine Chermiti Substitutes: FW 18 Mejdi Traoui    66' MF 26 Bassem Ben Nasser  84' MF 15 Mahmoud Khemiri  87' Manager: Bertrand Marchand

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

Notes and references

External links

• 2007 CAF Champions League - cafonline.com