CAF Confederation Cup 2026/27: USM Alger, CR Belouizdad, dates and betting
The CAF Confederation Cup is Africa's second club competition after the Champions League ⚽. It was created in 2004 by merging the African Cup Winners' Cup, which dated from 1975, with the CAF Cup, launched in 1992. The 2026/27 season is its 24th edition, with 56 clubs taking part.
The eight clubs ranked highest by CAF skipped the first round, and USM Alger and CR Belouizdad are among them. The other 48 met in 24 two-legged ties in September, which leaves 32 clubs for the second round, where the exempt sides host the return legs. The 16 winners go through to a group stage of six matchdays. Last season that stage had four groups of four, with the top two in each reaching the quarter-finals. This time, no play-off round with clubs dropping down from the Champions League is scheduled: the second-round winners are the only clubs in the groups.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals are also played over two legs. When the aggregate score is level, away goals decide first and a penalty shoot-out follows, which is how the 2025/26 final was settled. For the 2027 final, CAF has only set a window from 9 to 31 May, with no word yet on the format or the venue.
USM Alger, the holders
USM Alger are defending the trophy they lifted in May 2026, their second after 2023. In the final against Zamalek, they won 1:0 in Algiers on 9 May thanks to an Ahmed Khaldi penalty in stoppage time, lost 0:1 in Cairo on 16 May to an early Oday Dabbagh penalty, and then won the shoot-out 8-7. According to CAF, they are the first Algerian club to have played in two finals of the competition. Their run last season:
Round | Opponent | Scores |
|---|---|---|
Preliminary round | AFAD Djékanou (Côte d'Ivoire) | 0:1 away, 3:0 at home |
Group stage | Group A | 1st on 14 points, 4 wins and 2 draws |
Quarter-final | Maniema Union (DR Congo) | 1:2 away, 1:0 at home, through on away goals |
Semi-final | Olympique Safi | 0:0 at home, 1:1 away, through on away goals |
Final | Zamalek (Egypt) | 1:0 and 0:1, 8-7 on penalties |
The title puts USM Alger into the 2026 CAF Super Cup against Mamelodi Sundowns, the Champions League winners, in a one-off match; the club already won the Super Cup in 2023, beating Al Ahly 1:0. Their place in 2026/27 comes from the Algerian Cup, won 2:1 against CR Belouizdad in the final. They start in the second round, away between 16 and 18 October to the winner of the tie between The Panthers (Equatorial Guinea) and ASPAC (Benin), then at home between 23 and 25 October.
CR Belouizdad, last season's semi-finalists
Third in the 2025/26 Algerian league, CR Belouizdad come back after a campaign that took them to the last four. They topped Group C with 15 points and knocked out Al Masry in the quarter-finals on away goals, 1:1 in Egypt and 0:0 at home, before losing to Zamalek, 0:1 in Algiers and 0:0 in Cairo. CAF noted that it was their first continental semi-final in 30 years.
Their second-round opponents are AS Douanes of Mauritania, with the first leg away between 16 and 18 October and the return at home between 23 and 25 October. AS Douanes got past Hafia FC in the first round: 2:2 in Nouakchott on 5 September, then a 1:0 win in Conakry on 19 September in a postponed return leg, 3:2 on aggregate.
The season calendar
The group stage is spread over six weekends: 27-29 November, 4-6 and 18-20 December 2026, then 8-10, 15-17 and 22-24 January 2027. The quarter-finals follow on 26-28 February and 5-7 March 2027, and the semi-finals on 9-11 and 16-18 April. These are CAF windows, with the exact day of each match confirmed later, and the group-stage draw has not been dated yet.
Roll of honour: Sfaxien and Berkane lead
Since 2004, CS Sfaxien (2007, 2008, 2013) and RS Berkane (2020, 2022, 2025) have won the most titles, three each. Etoile du Sahel, TP Mazembe, Raja CA, Zamalek and USM Alger have two apiece. Both Algerian titles belong to USM Alger, in 2023 and 2026, while ES Sétif (2009), MO Béjaïa (2016) and JS Kabylie (2021) reached the final without winning it. The 2020, 2021 and 2022 finals were one-off games; all the others were played over two legs.
Betting on CAF Confederation Cup from Algeria
A two-legged tie is best read across both games: the first-leg score changes the value of the return-leg markets, whether 1X2, double chance, goal totals or handicap. An outright bet on the winner stays open until the final in May 2027. During matches, in-play football tracks the score, the Football section brings together Algerian and foreign leagues, and the list of upcoming games lets you add an African tie to an accumulator.
Deposits and withdrawals run in Algerian dinars (DZD) 💳 through BaridiMob or RedotPay, or in crypto via Binance Pay and USDT. A 1xBet account opened before 16 October lets you follow USM Alger and CR Belouizdad from their very first game.