The competition was won by Tunisian club Espérance de Tunis, who defeated Jordanian side Al-Faisaly 3–2 after extra time in the final to secure a joint-record third title.

The following team entries allocation was announced by the Union of Arab Football Associations on 20 June 2016.

The three winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the nine direct entrants.

From the group stage onwards, the tournament was held in Egypt in the cities of Cairo and Alexandria.

The highest ranked second-placed team from the groups advanced to the knockout stage; the rest were eliminated.