By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s top tier handball club, Plateau Peacocks are currently in Morocco to take part in the men and women’s Africa Club Handball Championship schduled for Laayoun between October 10 and 17, 2024.
Plateau Peacocks, who finished third at the Handball Premier League 2023 women’s category will be participating in the club championship in group C alongside Petro Atletico of Angola, Andre Nziko of Cameroon and US Nousasser of Morocco. A total of 10 women teams are participating.
The women’s competition has been won by an Angolan team in the last 25 editions and the two powerhouses which have secured those wins, Petro Atlético and Primeiro de Agosto, will be lining up at the start of the competition once again.
While Petro Atlético are the most decorated team in the history of the African premium competition, with 19 titles, they have lost the last four finals against Primeiro de Agosto, the team which won the last eight titles on the trot.
The two Angolan sides will be joined by two teams from Cameroon and one from Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Congo, Benin, Morocco and Nigeria each, as the 11 sides have been divided into three groups, two of four teams each and one of three sides.
The top two sides in each group, plus the third placed side in the four-team groups will progress to the quarter-finals, with Petro Atlético and Primeiro de Agosto being the prime favourites to challenge for the title once again.
Two of the three most decorated clubs in the men’s competition, Egyptian powerhouses Al-Ahly – the reigning champions – and Zamalek SC, which have also donned the court at the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, will be at the start, with Zamalek being the most decorated team in the history of the competition, with 12 tiles, while Al Ahly have won the title six times.
Up to 16 men teams will line up at the start, with three teams from Ethiopia and Morocco each, two teams from Egypt, Congo, Cameroon and Benin and one team from Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal.
In Group A, Al Ahly, the team which finished third at the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship and beat FC Barcelona in the bronze medal match, will face two sides from Congo, Étoile du Congo and Centre de Formation de la Jeunesse Sportive de Ouénzé (CFJSO), plus Ethiopian side Mekelle.
In Group C, Zamalek SC are due to face one of the Moroccan sides, Mountada, as well as Cameroonian side Friendship and Ethiopian side Kirikos.
According to the organisers, another former winner of the competition, Cameroonian side Forces Armées et Police Yaoundé play in Group B, alongside Moroccan side Raja Casablanca, Don Bosco from Cote d’Ivoire and Benin side Flowers.
The top two teams in each group will progress to the quarter-finals, where the top side in each group will face a second-placed side from another group.
In Group A, reigning champions Primeiro de Agosto are facing Cameroonian side Forces Armées et Police Yaoundé, Abidjan HC from Cote d’Ivoire and Tunisian side ASF Handball. Group C will be headlined by Petro Atlético, which are playing against Cameroonian side Andre Nziko, Moroccan side US Nouasser and Nigerian side Peacocks.
The remaining three teams – Egyptian side Al-Ahly, AS Otoho from Congo and Benin’s Flowers – are due to play in Group B.
