By Victor Kanayo
Top Nigerian club El-Kanemi Warriors will do battle against Dadje of Benin Republic in the opening round of the 2024/25 season of CAF Confederation Cup.
The CAF inter-club draw happened few weeks after Nigeria’s Super Eagles surrendered to Benin Republic’s senior men National team in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
The continental club engagement is like that of upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifier draw between Nigeria and Benin Republic.
During the Confederation Cup draw on Thursday at CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, another Nigerian club Enyimba FC were exempted from the preliminary round.
The eight time Nigerian champions will face the winner of Hafia versus Rahimo of Burkina Faso.
According to CAF, Enyimba are among the 12 highest-ranked clubs that will be exempted and only compete in the second preliminary round.
These 12 highest ranked clubs are RS Berkane (Morocco), Asec Mimosas (Cote d’Ivoire), Stade Malien (Mali), Enyimba (Nigeria), Zamalek (Egypt), USM Alger (Algeria), Simba SC (Tanzania) El Masry (Egypt), CS Sfaxien (Tunisia), AS Vita (DR Congo), Sekhukhune United (South Africa) and FC Lupopo (Dr Congo).
ASC Jaraaf (Senegal), AS Otoho (Benin) and Zesco United (Zambia) will all play non-ranked teams in the 2nd Preliminary round due to their higher-ranking position.
The competition schedule further revealed that the preliminary stages of the CAF Confederation Cup will be divided into two rounds, with first Preliminary Round involving 40 matches.
The second preliminary round, which will consist of 32 games, and will determine the 16 clubs that will be drawn into the four groups of the Group Stages of the competition.
The 1st Preliminary Round First Leg will take place between 16 – 18 August for the first legs, with the return leg set to be played between 23 – 25 August, 2024.
The 2nd Preliminary Round will then follow between 13 – 15 September for the first legs, while the return legs to confirm the draw for the Group Stages will be played between 20 – 22 September, 2024.
Similarly, two Nigerian clubs Rangers international and Remo stars have known their opponents in the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League.
The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) champions, Rangers, face US Zilimadjou of Comoros in the preliminary round.
Remo Stars will be up against AS FAR of Morocco.
The first leg will be played between 16-18 August, while the second leg will hold between 23-25 August.
