The 2017 CAF Confederation Cup group stage was played from 12 May to 9 July 2017.[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the group stage to decide the eight places in the knockout stage of the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup.[2]
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 26 April 2017, 14:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[3][4][5] The 16 teams, all winners of the play-off round of qualifying, were drawn into four groups of four. The teams were seeded by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons (CAF 5-year ranking points shown in parentheses).[6]
In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
Tiebreakers
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations III. 20 & 21):[2]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Drawing of lots.
Schedule
The schedule of each matchday was as follows (matches scheduled in midweek in italics).[1][7]
^ abHead-to-head results: Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid 1–0 ZESCO United, ZESCO United 3–0 Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid.
^FIFA suspended the Sudan Football Association on 7 July 2017.[8] As a result, Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid could not play their final group match against ZESCO United, and the match was awarded as a 3–0 win to their opponents.[9] Initially, Al-Hilal Al-Ubayyid were disqualified from the CAF Confederation Cup,[10] but following the lifting of the suspension on 13 July,[11] they were reinstated to the competition, and advanced to the knockout stage instead of Recreativo do Libolo.[9]
