The TotalEnergies CAF Interclub season kicks off this weekend, with Mamelodi Sundowns and USM Alger carrying the weight of expectation as defending champions in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup respectively. Both clubs enter their competitions after byes through the First Preliminary Round — but history offers a sobering lesson about the difficulty of retaining continental honours.

Champions League holders: a record of remarkable resilience

A review of the last 10 completed title-defence campaigns in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League — covering the period from 2017 through to the 2025/26 season — reveals a striking pattern. Every single defending champion reached at least the quarter-finals the following season. Six progressed to the semi-finals, five returned to the final, and three successfully retained the trophy.

The first club to defend the Champions League crown in this period was Espérance Sportive de Tunis. After winning the 2018 title with an aggregate victory over Al Ahly, Espérance came back the following season and defeated Wydad Casablanca to retain their title in the shortened 2018/19 campaign.

Al Ahly have since matched that feat twice over. The Egyptian giants claimed the 2019/20 trophy against Zamalek and then crushed Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 in the 2020/21 final, becoming back-to-back champions. Their bid for a historic third straight crown fell at the final hurdle in 2021/22, when Wydad defeated them 2-0.

Al Ahly then launched a second consecutive-title run, beating Wydad 3-2 on aggregate in the 2022/23 final and following up with a 1-0 aggregate win over Espérance in 2023/24. Their pursuit of three in a row was ultimately ended by Sundowns in the 2024/25 semi-finals.

Wydad also came close after their 2021/22 triumph, reaching the following year's final only to lose to Al Ahly. Most recently, Pyramids FC became the 10th consecutive holder to reach at least the quarter-finals before being knocked out 3-2 on aggregate by eventual runners-up AS FAR.

Confederation Cup holders: a complicated picture

The story in the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup is considerably more complex. Winning the trophy does not guarantee a return to defend it — four champions in the same 10-season window instead competed in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League the following year.

TP Mazembe moved into the 2018 Champions League after their 2017 Confederation Cup win, reaching the quarter-finals before an away-goals elimination by Primeiro de Agosto. Zamalek took the same path after the 2018/19 Confederation Cup, going all the way to the 2020/21 Champions League final before losing 2-1 to Al Ahly. Raja Casablanca followed their 2020/21 Confederation Cup triumph with a Champions League campaign, falling 3-2 on aggregate to Al Ahly in the quarter-finals.

Most recently, RS Berkane — winners of a third Confederation Cup in 2024/25 and Moroccan league champions for the first time — entered the Champions League rather than defend their Confederation Cup title. They reached the semi-finals of that competition in their debut group-stage campaign before losing 2-1 on aggregate to AS FAR.

Every Confederation Cup holder that crossed over to the Champions League in this period reached at least the quarter-finals. Yet of the six champions who actually returned to defend the Confederation Cup, only one succeeded.

TP Mazembe retained the trophy in 2017, beating SuperSport United in the final for back-to-back Confederation Cup titles. Since then, no club has repeated that achievement. Raja were eliminated in the group stage in 2018/19, and RS Berkane suffered the same fate in 2020/21. Berkane's next title defence ended even earlier — US Monastir knocked them out 1-0 on aggregate in the Play-Off Round in 2022/23.

USM Alger went furthest among the recent title holders, reaching the semi-finals in their first defence in 2023/24, while Zamalek made the quarter-finals the following season before being eliminated by Stellenbosch FC. That lengthy wait for a successful Confederation Cup defence is precisely the challenge USM Alger face as the new season begins.