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CAF Confederation Cup

Rival Rwandan Fans Hail Rivers United

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BY: SAMMY WEJINYA

 

 

Fans of Rwandan club, Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Football Club (APR), local rivals of Rivers United’s Confederation Cup opponents, Rayon Sports  on Friday stormed the Amahoro Stadium, Kigali to cheer players of Nigerian club, Rivers United ahead of Saturday’s match.

As Rivers United held a training session at the Amahoro Stadium ahead of the decisive second leg game,  the fans, numbering well over a thousand, were in full voice, singing local songs and chanting, ‘Rivers! Rivers!

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APR and Rayon Sports are bitter rivals domestically with fans of either club known to support opponents of their foes. Eric Ravi, a well-known fan of APR, explained that Rivers United will receive ‘massive support’ from APR fans who are eager to see Rayon Sports eliminated from the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup.

“We (fans of Rayon Sports) will give massive support to Rivers United (on Saturday) because we don’t want Rayon to reach the group stage of the competition,” Ravi told supersport.com.

A female supporter of Rayon who simply identified herself as ‘Shaka’ however stated that the majority of the support on Saturday will be for Rayon.

“Of course, there will be some fans of APR who will support Rivers United on Saturday but I can tell you that the majority of the fans at the Amahoro Stadium on match day will be rooting for Rayon Sports.

“Rayon Sports is the club of the common man in Rwanda and as such, the people identify with the club.

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“Rivers United will lose on Saturday and it will be a victory for the people of Rwanda,” Shaka declared. Rivers United defeated Rayon Sports 2-0 in the first leg of the playoff tie in Port Harcourt last Sunday.

 

 

 

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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CAF Confederation Cup

CAF draw brings Nigeria again against Benin Republic

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El Kanemi Warriors to face Dadje of Benin Republic

After Nigeria and Benin have been drawn together together in the 2026 World Cup qualifying as well as that of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, another CAF draw has pitched the two teams together.

El-Kanemi will face Dadje of Benin Republic in the opening round of the CAF Confederation Cup. Nigeria’s second team, Enyimba FC are exempted from the first round.

The eight time Nigerian champions will face the winner of Hafia versus Rahimo of Burkina Faso.

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CAF Confederation Cup

Enyimba exempted from Preliminary round as El-Kanemi fall in Pot 1 of Confederation Cup draw

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Enyimba FC have drawn bye in the preliminary stage of the CAF Confederation Cup which draw will hold in Cairo on Thursday. The Nigerian team is among the 12 highest ranked teams in the competition.

Nigeria’s other representative are in Pot 1  along with 12 other clubs. The CAF Confederation Cup have 52 clubs representing 41 countries.

After the 12 exempted clubs, the remaining 40 clubs shall play in the preliminary round which consist of three ranked clubs and 37 non-ranked clubs according to the official clubs ranking.

Three pots of the 37 non-ranked teams are created considering their geographical proximity.  The exempted teams and the ranked teams are distributed geographically.

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CAF Confederation Cup

EXCLUSIVE! Abia Warriors’ Federation Cup loss saves Enyimba from CAF Confederation Cup disqualification

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Enyimba saved by Abia Warriors loss at the President Federation Cup

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Had Abia Warriors won the President Federation Cup in tie with El-Kanemi Warriors on Saturday, Enyimba FC would have been disqualified from the CAF Confederation Cup.

Entry for the registration for both Confederation Cup and the CAF Champions League close this Sunday.

Sources at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) informed Sports Village Square that the eligibility code for any of the inter-clubs competitions, does not allow two clubs owned fully or partially by the same person or body to feature in the same competition.

 Both Enyimba FC and Abia Warriors are known to be owned and funded by the Abia State Government.

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Had Abia Warriors prevailed over El-Kanemi, they too, like Enyimba would have qualified for the Confederation Cup.

 Like in UEFA clubs competitions, CAF would not have allowed teams owned fully or partially by the same body to feature in the same competition. In this case, the CAF Confederation Cup.

 It would be a different issue, if one of the two were to be competing in the Champions League and the other in the Confederation Cup.

 This is stated in Section L.03 of Article 55 of the CAF Men’s Licensing Regulations (2022 edition).

 In accordance with the Regulations of CAF Confederation Cup which give precedence to the national cup winner over the third placed teams of the league in case of countries that qualified to enter two teams, the sacrificial lamb would have been Enyimba, whose position would have been taken by the next available team, Shooting Stars who  placed fourth on the log.

 It was partly in accordance to the Section IV of the CAF Confederation Cup Regulations (ENGAGEMENTS) that enabled the fourth placed Kwara United engaged in the 2022 edition as the entry closed while the Nigerian national cup was still at the quarter-final stage.

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