Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned African champions last season, which also took them to the top of the CAF’s club ranking system, writes Nick Said.
Mamelodi Sundowns’ victory in the 2025/26 African Champions League did more than deliver a second continental crown and erase the pain of losing the previous season’s final against Pyramids.
It also completed their rise to the top of Africa’s club rankings, ending Al Ahly’s long stay at number one and perhaps cementing what many have long believed, that the Pretoria-based side is the top team in Africa.
The Confederation of African Football’s updated five-year table that they use for seedings in competitions has Sundowns first with 73 points, seven clear of Egypt’s Al Ahly on 66, with Espérance from Tunisia in third on 58.
That is a significant shift from the ranking released before the 2025/26 season, when Al Ahly led with 78 points and Sundowns were second on 62. The change reflects both Sundowns’ relentless consistency and the way CAF’s rolling system places greater value on the most recent campaign.
With Al Ahly not qualifying for the Champions League this season, Sundowns have a further opportunity to cement their place as Africa’s top club.
The rankings are based on how clubs perform in CAF’s interclub competitions over the last five editions. CAF uses the list to organise seeding and place teams into pots for competition draws, helping to keep the strongest recent performers apart during the early stages.
CAF’s system awards Champions League clubs six points for winning the competition, five for finishing as runners-up, four for reaching the semi-finals and three for making the quarter-finals.
Clubs finishing third and fourth in the group stage receive two and one point respectively.
The Confederation Cup scale is slightly lower: five for the champions, four for the runners-up, three for semi- finalists, two for quarter-finalists, one for third place in a group and half a point for fourth.
But the crucial part is the weighting. The oldest of the five seasons is multiplied by one, the next by two, then three and so on until the most recent campaign, which carries a coefficient of five.
A Champions League title in the latest season is therefore worth 30 ranking points (six points multiplied by five), while the same achievement five seasons earlier contributes only six points.
Sundowns’ total of 73 can be followed season by season. Their quarter-final appearance in 2021/22 earns three points because it is now the oldest campaign in the cycle.
Their semi-final runs in 2022/23 and 2023/24 are worth eight and 12 respectively. Finishing as runners-up to Pyramids in 2024/25 contributes 20, while defeating AS FAR 2-1 on aggregate to win the 2025/26 title adds the maximum 30.
Al Ahly’s fall to second will hurt for fans, but is reflective of their recent struggles.
The Cairo giants remain the competition’s record 12-time winners and are still the benchmark for long-term African success.
Their 66 points comprise five for finishing as runners-up in 2021/22, 12 for winning the title in 2022/23, 18 for retaining it in 2023/24, 16 for reaching the 2024/25 semi-finals and 15 for making the quarter- finals in 2025/26.
They have entered the African Confederation Cup this season, so can still score points there.
In the 2025 ranking, Al Ahly still benefited from their 2020/21 Champions League title and had their more recent achievements multiplied by larger coefficients. Once that season dropped out, all their remaining results moved down one weighting level.
Sundowns also lost points through the rollover, but their new title was worth 30 and more than compensated.
The result was a rise from 62 to 73 points for Sundowns, while Al Ahly slipped from 78 to 66. That 23-point swing turned a 16-point Al Ahly lead into a seven-point advantage for the South Africans.
Domestic results do not alter the calculation. Sundowns were pipped by Orlando Pirates in the 2025/26 Premier Soccer League season, ending their run of eight successive league titles, but that setback has no bearing on CAF’s interclub coefficient.
Being number one brings practical benefits as well as well as that little extra bit of prestige and bragging rights.
The rankings are used for seeding, so Sundowns hold the strongest possible position when CAF assigns clubs to pots, although the precise procedures vary according to the stage of the competition.
It is not a guarantee of an easier route, but it rewards the years of work required to qualify repeatedly for the knockout rounds.
There is also a broader symbolism to Sundowns’ rise.
African club football has long been dominated by North African sides, particularly Al Ahly, Zamalek, Espérance and the leading Moroccan clubs. Sundowns have broken that hold through year-on-year consistency at the business end of the Champions League. The challenge is now to remain there.
Because the ranking is rolling, points are constantly losing value and eventually dropping out.
Sundowns cannot live indefinitely off the 2026 title. Their 30-point reward will become 24, then 18, 12 and finally six over the next four rankings before disappearing completely.
Al Ahly remain the continent’s greatest club historically, but measured by recent CAF competition performance, Mamelodi Sundowns are the current number one.
