AS FAR Rabat

The first leg is at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on Sunday 17 May 2026 — Sundowns home. The original CAF schedule had the first leg on 15 May; Sundowns requested a 48-hour push to manage Premier Soccer League fixture congestion, and CAF granted the move. The second leg is at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on Sunday 24 May 2026, kick-off 20:00 Morocco local time. The aggregate winner takes the trophy plus a record USD 6 million prize under the new CAF pay structure announced by President Patrice Motsepe in March 2026.

AS FAR's road to the final ran through Pyramids FC of Egypt in the quarter-finals (3-2 aggregate) and RS Berkane of Morocco in the semi-finals (2-1 aggregate). The all-Moroccan semi-final was the second time in three seasons that two Moroccan clubs met in the CAF Champions League knockout stage, reflecting the depth of Botola Pro's continental presence. AS FAR advanced as Group B runners-up with nine points from the group stage.

The two-legged tie applies the away-goals rule on aggregate. If tied with away goals equal, a penalty shootout will decide the winner — extra time will not be played in the second leg per the CAF format. Mamelodi Sundowns have prior CAF Champions League experience (2016 winners, 2024-25 finalists losing to Pyramids FC). For AS FAR this is the first appearance in a CAF final since 1985, a 41-year wait between continental finals.

The 1985 final was over two legs. AS FAR played the away leg in Libreville first, drawing or losing on a thin margin (records vary in different sources), then won the home leg at the Stade du 16-Novembre in Casablanca by a margin large enough to deliver the 5-2 aggregate. The trophy made AS FAR the first Moroccan winner of Africa's top club competition — predating Raja (1989), Wydad (1992) and the modern Casablanca dominance of the 1990s.

The 1985 squad was built around the FAR military pipeline: full-time professional footballers attached to Royal Armed Forces structures, with the squad spending pre-season in residential training camps. Mehdi Bouchaib was the senior striker; the captain was a long-serving full-back from the same FAR generation. Coach Werner Olk (a German with prior West German youth-team experience) ran the tactical setup.

The 41-year gap between the 1985 title and the 2025-26 final appearance is the longest gap between CAF finals for any club currently in the 2026 final. AS FAR's 2025-26 run effectively rebuilds a continental identity that had been overshadowed by Wydad (1992, 2017, 2022) and Raja (1989, 1997, 1999) for two generations.

The military-sports model dates to the 1958 founding by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan. The wider AS FAR sports association covers football, basketball, handball, athletics, equestrian sports and judo, with each section drawing from FAR personnel and dedicated youth recruitment. The football section runs as a fully professional Botola Pro and CAF-eligible team, but with senior decision-making aligned to the Armed Forces structure rather than a private board or socio-membership model.

The supporter culture sits on top of that institutional foundation. Across Morocco's 13 wilayas, FAR barracks and reservist networks feed into AS FAR loyalty — the supporter base is national rather than purely Rabat-based. Ultras Askary Rabat 05 (UAR05) and Black Army, both founded 2005-2006, run the Curve Sud at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium. Tifo content draws from military, royal and Moroccan-flag motifs more directly than the Casablanca clubs' street-art-influenced content.

Commercially, AS FAR have benefited from the FRMF investment in stadium infrastructure ahead of AFCON 2025 and the 2030 World Cup. The Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium underwent a 2024 renovation that increased the capacity to 69,500, putting it among the largest football venues in Africa and securing AS FAR a top-three home-attendance position in the Botola Pro. CAF Champions League nights at the stadium have hit 50,000-plus through the 2025-26 knockout phase.