CAIRO – Pyramids FC from Egypt will host Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the second-leg of the CAF Champions League 2024–25 Final on Sunday, June 1 at the Air Defense Stadium in Cairo.
This will be the 61st final across both eras of the tournament and the 29th since the rebranding to the Champions League in 1997.
Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg on 24 May at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, where Lucas Ribeiro Costa gave Sundowns the lead in the 54th minute before Walid El Karti equalized in stoppage time for Pyramids.
Pyramids will be crowned champions with a win or a 0-0 draw. Sundowns will lift the trophy with a win or a draw of 2-2 or higher. A 1-1 result will take the tie to penalties.
This is the fourth meeting between the two clubs. They also faced each other in the 2023/24 group stage, drawing 0-0 in Pretoria before Sundowns won 1-0 in Cairo thanks to a goal by Teboho Mokoena. Sundowns topped Group A while Pyramids finished bottom.
Pyramids is hosting a South African club in the Champions League for the third time, having previously beaten Orlando Pirates 3-2 in this season’s semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg in Johannesburg, cafonline.com reported.
Historically, this will be the fifth Champions League final between Egyptian and South African clubs. Egyptian sides have won three of the previous four.
The first Egypt–South Africa final came in 2001, when Al Ahly defeated Sundowns 4-1 on aggregate. In 2013, Al-Ahly again triumphed over a South African side, beating Orlando Pirates 3-1 over two legs.
Sundowns is the only South African team to win a Champions League final tie against Egyptian opposition, beating Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate in 2016. The most recent meeting before this season was Al Ahly’s 3-0 win over Kaizer Chiefs in the 2020/21 final.
South African teams have never overcome a draw at home in the first leg against Egyptian opposition. Both Sundowns in 2001 and Pirates in 2013 drew their home legs against Al Ahly and went on to lose the away leg.
In four two-legged finals where a South African club failed to win the first leg at home, only once has a comeback been achieved – Pirates in 1995 drew 2-2 at home with ASEC Mimosas before winning 1-0 away.
Egyptian clubs have won all three previous home games against South African sides in Champions League finals.
Overall, Egyptian and South African clubs have clashed in eight Champions League final matches (including two-legged ties), with Egypt claiming four wins, South Africa one, and three draws.
Pyramids are bidding to become Egypt’s fourth different winner in the tournament’s history, following Al-Ahly, Zamalek, and Ismaily.
That would make Egypt the first country to have four different winners of the competition. Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia currently each have three. In the Champions League era alone, a win for Pyramids would give Egypt three different winners – more than any other country.
Ten previous finals have been decided on penalties, most recently in 2004 when Enyimba beat Etoile Sahel.
In the Champions League era, penalty shootouts settled three finals: Raja CA in 1997 and 1999, and Enyimba in 2004.
Egyptian clubs have twice won finals on penalties, both by Zamalek in 1993 and 1996. A South African club has never contested a final that went to penalties.
