The 2018 CAF Confederation Cup group stage was played from 6 May to 29 August 2018.[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the group stage to decide the eight places in the knockout stage of the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup.[2]
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 21 April 2018, 14:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[3][4] 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).[5] Each group contained one team from Pot 1 and three teams from Pot 2, and each team was drawn into one of the positions in their group.[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] Effective from the Confederation Cup group stage, weekend matches were played on Sundays while midweek matches were played on Wednesdays, with some exceptions. Kick-off times were also fixed at 13:00, 16:00 and 19:00 GMT.[8]
