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CAF Champions League

ENYIMBA, PLATEAU UNITED, OTHERS GET NEW CONTINENTAL CALENDAR

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Even before kick-off, the calendar for the upcoming continental clubs competition has changed. Since March, there have been disruption of general sporting calendars and the CAF competitions have not been exempted.

The finals of the currently extended season are yet to be played even though the fixtures for the upcoming seasons have been drawn.

The whole episode is occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Nigerian publication, ThisDay, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has for the second time, reverted to midweek fixtures for club competitions for 2020/21 season.

The new development thus meant that both Plateau United and Enyimba FC in Champions League and Kano Pillars in CAF Confederation Cup will be having midweek matches after fulfilling the local league fixtures at weekends when the new season gets under way soon.

ThisDay quoted a CAF official that the latest kick-off date for both the Champions League and Confederation Cup competitions is Friday, 27 November.

Originally, they were set to start on 7 August, and then pushed back to 20 November because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Now, the two-leg preliminary round matches are slated for 27/29 November and 4/6 December, followed by round-of-32 games on 22/23 December and 5/6 January.

The other dates in both competitions remain unchanged with the first Champions League matchday on 12/13 February and the Confederation Cup series beginning on 10 March.

After six match days come two-leg quarterfinals in May, home-and-away semi finals in June and single-match finals in July.

Four of the 15 Champions League rounds will be staged on Tuesdays or Wednesdays as CAF battles to find match dates in a calendar that must also accommodate national teams.

Six of the 17 Confederation Cup rounds are also scheduled for midweek with three offering clubs a choice of playing on Tuesday or Wednesday and three others on Wednesdays.

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Most participants will be unhappy at the prospect of having to stage CAF matches during the week as the system did not work when previously enforced a few years ago.

The sight of tiny crowds dotted around huge stadiums gave the incorrect impression that there was little interest in the competitions.

To reduce electricity costs and avoid the risk of power outages that are common in African countries, many clubs played matches in the afternoon during work days. 

This meant that the majority of supporters could not attend because a traditional working day in Africa ends around 1500 GMT.

Afternoon kick-offs did not suit the footballers either with matches often played in stamina-draining temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius or higher.

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This problem applies to even the most powerful clubs with TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo — winners of 11 CAF titles — playing midweek matches in the afternoon. 

To date, 49 clubs have qualified for the Champions League and 43 for the Confederation Cup, the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League.

Heading the Champions League line-up are Al Ahly, whose 0-0 draw with Al Ittihad in Alexandria on Monday ensured them of a top-two finish although they have seven games to play.

Ahly have been African champions a record eight times and face Wydad Casablanca of Morocco during October in the 2019/2020 semi finals.

Zamalek of Egypt and Raja Casablanca of Morocco are the other semi-finalists and both are likely to be back in the elite competition next season.

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Raja lead the Moroccan Botola Pro 1 standings while Zamalek hold an eight-point advantage over Al Mokawloon Al Arab in the race for second place behind runaway leaders Ahly.

There will also be numerous debutants, including Forest Rangers, a Zambian club who qualified despite 28 of the staff testing positive for Covid-19 when the season restarted.

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 Champions League

Enugu Rangers crash out of Champions League

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Nigeria’s sole survivor into the second round of the CAF Champions League, Enugu Rangers have crashed out of the competition. They lost 3-1 to Angola’s Sagrada Esperança  this Sunday in Luanda.

 The aggregate scoreline is 3-2 as Rangers last weekend won their home game 1-0. Sagrada Esperança opened the game with offensive and got their first goal barely six minutes into the game when Alexandre Fernando found the back of the net.

 The hosts doubled their lead in the 33rd minute through Mussa. But four minutes later, Enugu Rangers reduced the tally to 2-1 to carry an away goal advantage into half time.

Jamie Pimpao got the much needed goal for Angola in the 67th minute to seal the hopes of Rangers.

Sagrada Esperança will now go into next month’s draw for the draw of the group stage.

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CAF Champions League: Travelling teams secure victories on the road

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CAF Champions League 2nd Preliminary Round action resumed on Saturday, 14 September following the resumption of the Africa’s premium club competition on Friday.

It was mostly the travelling teams that secured victories away from home on Saturday, who put themselves in fairly comfortable situations ahead of the return leg next week.

Orlando Pirates had a mental obstacle to overcome in Gaborone against Jwaneng Galaxy, having to face the same side that eliminated them in the same phase of the competition last season.

The former champions secured a 2-0 victory in Gaborone to put themselves in a comfortable position ahead of the return leg next weekend.

Five-time champions, TP Mazembe were away to Red Arrows in Zambia where they also put two past their hosts ahead of the return leg in Lubumbashi.

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Mamelodi Sundowns, who played their away match in the comfort of their home stadium against Swaziland’s Mbabane Swallows made use of home ground advantage with a comfortable 4-0 win over their neighbours.

Tanzanian champions, Young Africans secured a hard-fought 1-0 win over CBE SA of Rwanda as Tanzanian giants continue to chase a continental title. 

It was a rather tough outing for Moroccan outfit, AS FAR when they travelled to Sudan to face Al Merrikh. A highly entertaining encounter concluded with a 2-2 draw, ahead of the return leg in Morocco.

Egyptian side, Pyramids FC also played out to a draw when they were held 1-1 by APR FC in Rwanda.

Burkina Faso side, Association Sportive des Douanes out up an impressive showing when they edged Algeria’s CR Belouizdad by 1-0.

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The first leg of the 2nd Preliminary Round concludes on Sunday, with five interesting encounters lined up, including reigning champions Al Ahly kick starting their title defense away from home.

TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Results & Fixtures:

Friday, 13 September

Enugu Rangers 1 – 0 Sagrada Esperanca

Monastir 0 – 1 MC Alger

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Saturday, 14 September 

CBE SA 0 – 1 Young Africans

Red Arrows 0 – 2 TP Mazembe

Al-Merrikh 2 – 2 AS FAR

Jwaneng Galaxy FC 0 – 2 Orlando Pirates FC

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Maniema Union 2 – 1 Petro de Luanda

Djoliba 1 – 0  ASKO

Douanes 1 – 0 CR Belouizdad

Sunday, 15 September 

12h00 GMT | Gor Mahia vs Al Ahly

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15h00 GMT | Samartex vs Raja CA

16h00 GMT | San Pedro vs Al-Hilal

16h00 GMT | Dekedaha vs ES Tunis

19h00 GMT | Stade d’Abidjan vs Milo FC

The return leg fixtures of the 2nd Preliminary stage will be played between 20 – 22 September.

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-CAF

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CAF Champions League

Enugu Rangers in slim CAF Champions League win over Angola’s Sagrada Esperanca

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Enugu Rangers’ patchy form in the CAF Champions League continues as they struggled to beat visiting Angola’s Sagrada Esperance 1-0 in the first leg match played at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.

 It was in similar fashion that they played against Union Sportive de Zilimadjou of Comoros Islands who they beat 2-1 over two legs in Uyo.

Rangers’ lone goal was scored by Kazeem Ogunleye in the 80th minute.

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