By Victor Kanayo
Henceforth, any club that fail to go past the second preliminary stage of the CAF Champions League will not have the chance of stepping down to the Confederation League.
This formed major part of decisions taken by CAF’s Executive Committee after their meeting and subsequent official statement on Friday night in Rabat, Morocco.
Part of the statement reads, “The Executive Committee approved the cancellation of the additional second preliminary of the CAF Confederation Cup.
“This means that the 16 winning Clubs of the Second Preliminary round will qualify for the Group Stage of both the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup 2023-2024 season.”
Before the latest decision by the continent’s football governing body, teams that failed to book a place to the round of 16 or knockout stage of the Champions League are relegated to the Confederation Cup.
Usually, two top clubs from participating countries – winners and runners-up of the their respective Premier Leagues automatically qualify for the Champions League, while the third place side settle for Confederation Cup
Already, Nigeria has produced representatives for both Leagues ahead of the coming 2023/24 football season.
They are Enyimba, Remo stars and Rivers United.
Benin Insurance later qualified to join the CAF Confederation Cup after winning the Federation Cup at the expense of Enugu Rangers.
They are expected to kick-start premilinary engagements in August, 2023.
