CAF Confederation Cup
We may not be the biggest name in the Confederation Cup, we are determined to create the best of impressions, says Remo Stars CEO, Ogungbefun
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The clock is ticking down to the 9 September CAF Confederation Cup fixture of AS FAR of Morocco and continental debutants, Remo Stars at the magnificent Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Logically, the odds weigh against the Nigerian sides who are making their maiden international venture as against the 63 year old Moroccan team.
The match coming up at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat will possibly feature the biggest away crowd that Remo Stars ever faced. More daunting is also the fact that the fans in North Africa have the notoriety of intimidating away teams.
Beyond that, AS FAR, a military sports club is one of the legacy sports outfits in the Kingdom of Morocco.
It is one of the most widely supported in Africa and one of the three founding clubs of the Moroccan League that have never been relegated since the competition began in 1956.
Under the club’s belt are 30 titles comprising 12 in the kingdom’s elite league, 12 again in the national cup called the Moroccan Throne Cup, four Super Cup victories and one each of the CAF Champions League and the Confederation Cup.
But the intimidating profile of the Moroccan side does not really move Adedoyin Ogungbefun, the Chief Executive Officer of Remo Stars who works silently, but efficiently like a brand new air conditioner.
“We may not be the biggest team in the Confederation Cup, but we will make great impact”, he remarked at the Remo Stars Stadium which is undergoing a face lift to meet up with the expected standard of hosting a continental match.
“Our preparation began almost immediately we picked the continental ticket. We’ve appointed a new coach and we are also strengthening the squad”, Ogbungbefun remarked.
Since coming from the lower league penultimate season to shake the NPFL by picking continental ticket ahead of the Nigerian powerhouse clubs, the excitement created in the hitherto sleepy town of Ikenne has been immeasurable.
At a birthday party in the town at the weekend, the entire members of a musical band were decked in Remo Stars’ outfit.
Ogungbefun said the excitement has just begun. “With the Aiteo Cup coming to an end, some of the players we are recruiting will be reporting .”
He did not wish to give the names of the players as negotiations were still on at the time.
But ahead of the new season which the club is opening with a baptism of fire in a continental competition, Remo Stars planned some matches against selected sides in Lagos and Oyo states.
Beyond strengthening the squad that created waves last season, the home ground of Remo Stars is receiving a face-lift.
A new press conference room has been added to the complex that has been an envy to football connoisseurs. The arena boasts of one of the best pitches in the country.
In addition, there are three training pitches, almost similar to what obtains in Europe. That may not be a surprise as the owner of the arena and the club, Kunle Soname owns a thriving football club in Portugal – C.D. Feirense.
The arena boasts of a youth academy where the players are camped almost in luxury. An hotel and gymnasium are also additional facilities at the sprawling complex.
Ogungbefun, pointing at a new spectators’ stand just being added to the stadium said that the club’s management obtained pre-inspection guidelines to aid their preparation for a possible visit by CAF inspectors.
He strongly believes that there was no need to be thinking of an alternative home ground for the CAF Confederation Cup.
“We are doing everything to make the Remo Stars Stadium, a model for all. We are also working on our organisational skills to make the coming of Confederation Cup matches to Ikenne a memorable one.”
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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