CAF Confederation Cup
Sportsville Award Winner, Elegbeleye Celebrates Rivers United Confederation Cup Qualification –
Gbenga Elegbeleye, the chieftain of the Nigeria Premier League and winner of the Sports Administrator of the Year category at last Friday’s Sportsville Awards has applauded Rivers United for reaching the quarter finals of the CAF Confederation Cup.
Rivers United achieved the feat following a 2-1 defeat of Dreams FC of Ghana in the last group fixture in Uyo on Sunday.
Rivers United finished second behind the Ghanaian side on same points but on inferior goals difference. Club Africain of Tunisia dropped to third after a 1-1 draw with APC Lobito of Angola.
Elegbeleye who is the Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League in a congratulatory message, said their success has added to the recent revival of the nation’s football.
The NPFL Chairman also commended the club for the win which sustained Nigeria’s standing in country ratings in CAF club competitions.
“The victory of Rivers United and their qualification for the knockout stage is very significant because it has guaranteed Nigeria two places each in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
“We are very delighted that the Club has sustained the country’s recent good runs in football since the coming of the Ibrahim Gusau led NFF Board”, declared Elegbeleye.
He assured Rivers United of the continued support of the NPFL Board in whichever way its assistance is required to ensure that Nigeria wins the competition.
“Rivers United is a worthy ambassador of the NPFL and we are very proud of their performance which also has rubbed of positively on the quality standard and competitiveness of our league”, continued Elegbeleye.
Rivers United will now face any of the three of USM Alger of Algeria, Zamalek of Egypt or RS Berkane of Morocco in the last eight in a home and away legs knockout games.
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.
CAF Confederation Cup
Enyimba exempted from Preliminary round as El-Kanemi fall in Pot 1 of Confederation Cup draw
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.
CAF Confederation Cup
EXCLUSIVE! Abia Warriors’ Federation Cup loss saves Enyimba from CAF Confederation Cup disqualification
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.
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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