The 2017 Arab Club Championship, also known as the 2017 UAFA Club Championship, was the 27th season (not including 1990) 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.
Allocation of entries
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.
^ Qatar were allocated one group stage slot, but chose not to participate due to scheduling difficulties with other tournaments.
^ Kuwait were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but could not participate due to FIFA's suspension of its football association.
^ Yemen were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but did not participate due to the suspension of footballing activity in the country.
^ 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.
^ Libya were allocated one qualifying play-off slot, but did not participate due to the suspension of footballing activity in the country.
Teams
The following 20 teams from 18 associations entered the competition.
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.
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 alongside with the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.
Tiebreakers
points obtained in all group matches;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams were to be equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings would have been determined as follows:
points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned.
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
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]
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