CAF Confederation Cup
Confederation Cup’s last 8 standing know rout to title today
The draw for the quarter-finals of the 2024/25CAF Confederation Cup will take place in Doha, Qatar on Thursday, where the eight remaining sides will learn their path to the final.
The draw will be held at the world-class beIN SPORTS studios from 16h00 Cairo time (14h00 GMT).
The four group winners will be drawn against the four runners-up, though they cannot meet the team who advanced to the knockout stage from their pool. The draw for the semi-finals will be conducted at the same time.
Here is a look at the eight remaining teams in the competition.
GROUP WINNERS
SIMBA SC
Country: Tanzania
Coach: Fadlu Davids (South Africa)
Best finish: Quarter-finals 2021-22Simba will be hoping for their best-ever finish in the CAF Confederation Cup having topped their pool with an impressive haul of 13 points from a possible 18.
They were quarter finalists in 2021-22 and did reach the final of the of CAF Cup in 1993, but have yet to lift a continental title.
They have young South African coach Fadlu Davids in charge and he has impressed since joining in July 2024.
RS BERKANE
Country: Morocco
Coach: Mouin Chaâbani (Tunisia)
Best finish: Winners 2019-20, 2021-22The Moroccan side have enjoyed huge success in the CAF Confederation Cup in the recent past having been to four finals in the previous six seasons, winning two of those. Having been edged by Zamalek in the decider last year they will be keen to get back there again.
They managed 16 points in the pool stage, more than any other club and conceded only one goal in their six games
USM ALGER
Country: Algeria
Coach: Marcos Paquetá (Brazil)
Best finish: Winners 2022-23
USMAlger were champions as recently as 2022-23 and followed that up with a semi-final showing last season.
They have the form forward through the group stages in Ismaïl Belkacemi, who netted five goals as they managed 14 in all, the most of any team.
They have recently unveiled the Brazilian Marcos Paquetá as their new coach, who has a long history coaching in Africa, including with Zamalek and most recently CR Belouizdad.
ZAMALEK SC
Country: Egypt
Coach: José Peseiro (Portugal)
Best finish: Winners 2018–19, 2023–24
The reigning champions will be in search of back-to-back titles and breezed through the group stages unbeaten with 14 points from a possible 18.
They also have a new coach in former Nigeria tactician José Peseiro, who replaced Christian Gross in the last week.
The Portuguese is a former Al Ahly coach and led the Super Eagles to the final of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
GROUP RUNNERS-UP
AL MASRY FC
Country: Egypt
Coach: Ali Maher (Egypt)
Best finish: Semi-finals 2018Al Masry finished runners-up to Egyptian rivals Zamalek in their pool as they took nine points.
They were semi-finalists in this competition in 2018 but lost out to AS Vita Club and will be seeking to reach a first continental final this year.
They also reached the quarterfinals in both 2019-20 and 2021-22, but on both occasions lost out to Morocco’s RS Berkane.
ASEC MIMOSAS
Country: Cote d’Ivoire
Coach: Julien Chevalier (France)
Best finish: Semi-finals 2022-23ASEC Mimosas edged Senegalese side ASC Jaraaf on head-to-head to claim second spot in their pool behind USM Alger.
They had two wins, two draws and two defeats, boosted by a solid home record but not so flash on the road.
They reached the semi-finals in 2022-23 but lost out to USM Alger, who have become a familiar foe.
Their coach Julien Chevalier has been in charge of the side since 2019 and has developed a strong squad.
CS CONSTANTINE
Country: Algeria
Coach: Kheïreddine Madoui (Algeria)
Best finish: Second round 2014, 2016CS Constantine managed a strong pool campaign that garnered them 12 points but finished runners-up to Simba SC.
It is a good outcome for a club in its debut group stage campaign having suffered two second-round exits in 2014 and 2016. They are coached by Kheïreddine Madoui, who is in his second spell with the team.
STELLENBOSCH FC
Country: South Africa
Coach: Steve Barker (South Africa)
Best finish: DebutAmbitious Stellenbosch FC are in their maiden season in CAF Interclub football and came through a difficult pool by finishing runners-up to RS Berkane.
They are a team packed with good young talent, who will have been on a steep learning curve this season.
Their coach Steve Barker is the nephew of legendary former South Africa tactician Clive Barker and has developed a strong reputation in his own right.
-CAF
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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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