CAF Confederation Cup
ENYIMBA DRAW TWO FORMER CHAMPIONS IN TOUGH CONFEDERATION LEAGUE FIXTURES
Enyimba of Nigeria are one of the three former African club champions drawn together in Group A of this season’s Confederation Cup. The two other elite league winners with Enyimba are Orlando Pirates and Algeria’s Entente Setif.
South Africa’s Orlando Pirates won the continental title in 1995 while Entente Setif just like Nigeria’s Enyimba, have won the crown twice.
They are joined in Group A by Libya’s Al Ahly Benghazi in the continent’s second-tier club competition.
The group-stage matches are due to begin next month with the top two in each group progressing to the quarter-finals.
- Group A: Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya), Orlando Pirates (South Africa), Enetente Setif (Algeria), Enyimba (Nigeria)
- Group B: Napsa Stars (Zambia), Coton Sport (Cameroon), JS Kabylie (Algeria), RS Berkane (Morocco)
- Group C: Jaaraf (Senegal), Salitas (Burkina Faso) CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) Etoile/Young Buffaloes
- Group D: Namungo/Primeiro Agosto, Nkana FC (Zambia), Pyramids (Egypt), Raja Casablanca (Morocco)
Morocco’s Renaissance Berkane will continue the defence of their title in Group B alongside Zambia’s Napsa Stars, Coton Sport of Cameroon and Algeria’s JS Kabylie, who have also twice been African Champions.
The Confederation Cup’s most successful club is Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien, who have lifted the trophy three times, are in Group C and know they will definitely face with Senegal’s Jaaraf and Salitas of Burkina Faso.
The other team in the group will either be Etoile du Sahel or Eswatini’s Young Buffaloes, the second leg of their play-off takes place on Monday with the Tunisian side holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg.
There is one other match to be played to decide the final place in Group D with Tanzanian club Namungo the firm favourites to clinch the spot after beating Angola’s Primeiro Agosto 6-2 in the first leg on Sunday.
The tie was delayed when Covid-19 forced the game in Angola to be called off before the Confederation of African Football agreed that both games could be played in Tanzania.
Awaiting the winners in Group D are Zambia’s Nkana, Pyramids from Egypt and Moroccan side Raja Casablanca.
Confederation Cup play-off results – second legs:
- US Monastir (Tunisia) 1-0 Raja Casablanca (Morocco)
- 1-1 on aggregate Raja progress 6-5 on penalties
- Napsa Stars (Zambia) 2-2 Gor Mahia (Kenya)
- Napsa Stars progress 3-2 on aggregate
- DC Motema Pembe (DR Congo) 1-1 Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya)
- 2-2 on aggregate Ahly progress 8-7 on penalties
- Coton Sport (Cameroon) 1-0 Sonidep (Niger)
- Coton Sport progress 2-0 on aggregate
- Rivers Utd (Nigeria) 1-0 Enyimba (Nigeria)
- 1-1 on aggregate Enyimba progress 5-4 on penalties
- Orlando Pirates (South Africa) 1-0 Jwaneng Galaxy (Botswana)
- Pirates progress 4-0 on aggregate
- JS Kabylie (Algeria) 1-0 Stade Malien (Mali)
- 2-2 on aggregate Kabylie progress on away goals
- Pyramids (Egypt) 2-0 Racing Abidjan (Ivory Coast)
- Pyramids progress 4-0 on aggregate
- Jaraaf (Senegal) 1-0 Platinum (Zimbabwe)
- Jaraaf progress 2-0 on aggregate
- Entente Setif (Algeria) 0-0 Asante Kotoko (Ghana)
- Setif progress 2-1 on aggregate
- Salitas (Burkina Faso) 3-1 Bouenguidi (Gabon)
- Salitas progress 3-2 on aggregate
- Tihad Casablanca (Morocco) 2-1 Nkana (Zambia)
- Nkana progress 3-2 on aggregate
- 22/02/21: Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) v Young Buffaloes (Eswatini)
- Etoile lead 2-1 on aggregate
- AS Kigali (Rwanda) 1-1 CS Sfaxien (Tunisia)
- Sfaxien progress 5-2 on aggregate
First leg:
- Primeiro Agosto (Angola) 2-6 Namungo (Tanzania) Caf ordered Primeiro to stage home leg in Tanzania after Angolan authorities prevented Namungo playing in Luanda last weekend
Bye:
- Renaissance Berkane (Morocco, holders)
CAF Confederation Cup
CAF adjudges Morocco’s Youssef Mehri’s goal as the fastest in football history
Moroccan club, Renaissance de Berkane, beat their Algerian counterparts, CS Constantine, 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals at the weekend.
The game got off to a dream start for the Moroccan club as it took Youssef Mehri less than a minute to open the scoring in the big win against the Algerians.
Officially, the goal is recorded to have been scored after 13 seconds.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), CAF remarks: “Youssef Mehri goes straight into the history books. The RS Berkane striker scores the fastest goal ever scored in the CAF Cup.”
A deeper search by Sports Village Square indicates that a Nigerian player, Paul Onuachu, had previously scored a faster goal, but not in a CAF Cup duel.
The basketball player-like footballer scored his first international goal in a 1-0 defeat of Egypt on 26 March 2019.
The goal inflicted Nigeria’s first defeat on Egypt in 29 years. But more significant was the timing of the goal. Onuachu, within eight seconds of kick-off, undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football records after that of Germany’s Lukas Podolsk, who scored after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013.
Fans had hardly settled down at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba for the Nigeria versus Egypt match when Onuachu released a thunderous shot that turned out to be the match’s decider.
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The Renaissance Sportive de Berkane delegation will travel to Algeria this Friday to face CS Constantine in the CAF Cup. Tension may be building up for the potentially explosive confrontation that could have a build-up from last year’s fixtures of the Moroccan club and another Algerian outfit, USM Algiers, in the CAF Confederation Cup.
A Moroccan news outlet, Sport.le360, reports that a Tunisian airline will operate the direct flight between Oujda-Angad Airport, which is located about 12 kilometres north of Oujda and about 600 kilometres northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border and Constantine Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Last year, political differences between Morocco and Algeria scuttled similar semi-final clashes between clubs of both countries.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday ruled in favour of the Algerian football federation in a row over a map of Morocco on shirts worn by Renaissance Berkane in the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Algerian club USM Alger were kicked out of last year’s competition after both legs of their semi-final against Berkane were cancelled because of a diplomatic dispute.
Neither match took place as USMA and the Algerian authorities objected to a map of Morocco on the Berkane shirts which included Western Sahara.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with North African neighbours Morocco in 2021, partly over the Western Sahara issue.
The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
The Confederation of African Football awarded Berkane a 3-0 victory for both legs of the semi-final.
CAF at the time responded to an appeal by the Algerian FA by ruling in favour of Berkane, saying the club had been wearing the same jerseys since the start of the tournament.
But the Algerian FA took the case to sport’s highest court in Switzerland, which determined that the shirts in question were “contrary to CAF regulations, as they display a territorial map that is of a political nature.”
“The image of a map of Morocco including Western Sahara on the shirts of RS Berkane depicts a message, a demonstration or propaganda of a political nature as it represents the assertion of a territorial dispute that is contested and still unresolved as of today,” CAS said in a statement.
“By the laws of the game of the International Football Association Board, it is prohibited to convey any content of a political nature on all equipment, including shirts.”
CAS added that the initial decision by CAF to “maintain the approval of the shirts is annulled”, but the court said that it would have no effect on the results of the tournament.
Egypt’s Zamalek beat Berkane on away goals in the final.
-AFP
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