African Football: How Does the Star System on Club Jerseys Work?

USM Alger, Wydad, Sundowns and Al Ahly illustrate how one symbol can tell very different stories

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African Football: How Does the Star System on Club Jerseys Work?

Why do African clubs count the stars on their badges differently?

Stars on African club badges do not follow a single formula. Some celebrate every continental honour, others recognise Champions League wins, while several clubs use milestones in domestic title totals.

USM Alger: one star for each African trophy

A star above a football crest does not necessarily mean a CAF Champions League victory. There is no universal, continent-wide formula requiring African clubs to award stars for the same trophies. Instead, clubs adopt traditions that reflect the honours they want to celebrate.

USM Alger provides a timely example. Following their 3-1 victory over Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2026 CAF Super Cup, the Algerian side can display four stars for four African trophies: the CAF Confederation Cup and CAF Super Cup in 2023, followed by those same two titles again in 2026. Their 2013 Arab club title and domestic honours do not count towards that particular total.

JS Kabylie follow a broadly similar principle: their six stars commemorate six African titles won across different continental tournaments, rather than six Champions League triumphs.

Wydad and Sundowns: Champions League honours stand apart

Other clubs choose to single out Africa’s premier club competition. Mamelodi Sundowns commemorate their 2016 CAF Champions League title with a star, without adding another for the 2017 CAF Super Cup.

Wydad AC combine two different systems on the same crest. Three stars recognise their Champions League victories in 1992, 2017 and 2022, while two further stars mark reaching ten and then twenty Moroccan league titles. Domestic and continental achievements can therefore appear side by side, but represent different milestones.

In Algeria, the star associated with CR Belouizdad celebrates the club reaching ten national league championships, not an African trophy.

Al Ahly: when one star represents ten titles

Al Ahly offer another striking example. The Egyptian giants have won 45 national league titles and use four stars to represent four completed sets of ten championships. A separate continental star commemorates the milestone of ten CAF Champions League crowns, even though the club’s overall total now stands at 12.

That system does not give separate stars for Al Ahly’s eight CAF Super Cups or their Confederation Cup victory. Counting the symbols alone would therefore be a misleading way to compare clubs’ trophy cabinets.

Ultimately, stars are a form of club storytelling: a tribute to individual continental triumphs, a distinction for Champions League success, or a marker of sustained domestic dominance. Their meaning depends on the tradition behind the badge.

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