NIGERIA’S only representatives left in continental competitions this season, Rivers United, will be part of the draw for the CAF Confederation Cup on Friday.
The Confederation of African Football announced today that the draws for both the Champions League and Confederation Cup group stages will be held on Friday.
“The official draw for the Group Stages of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup will be conducted on Friday, 6 October 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa,” the ruling body stated.
“The draw will start at 12h00 GMT (2pm Johannesburg, 1pm Nigerian time) with the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup draw. This will be followed by the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League draw at 13h00 GMT (3pm Johannesburg, 2pm Nigerian time).
“It will be live on CAF Official website: CAFONLINE.com and CAF YouTube (CAFTV).”
After the qualifying rounds that kicked off in August, 16 clubs have reached the group stages of each of the competitions.
“Both champions of the two competitions, Al Ahly SC (CAFCL) and USM Alger (CAFCC) will feature in the draw along with other household names of African football who will be looking at achieving continental glory this season,” CAF added.
Among some of the surprise teams that reached the Champions League group phase are Mauritania’s FC Nouadhibou who surprised Real Bamako and Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana who saw off 1995 champions Orlando Pirates.
Rivers United will vie for the Confederation Cup trophy with the likes of RS Berkane, the 2020 and 2022 winners who eliminated Nigeria’s Bendel Insurance, SuperSport United of South Africa, Medeama of Ghana who stopped Remo Stars in the Champions League before dropping down, Egyptian giants Zamalek and Algeria’s USM Alger.
There will be four groups of four teams each, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
CAF Champions League clubs
Al Ahly SC (Egypt)
Al Hilal (Sudan)
Asec Mimosas (Cote d’Ivoire)
CR Belouizdad (Algeria)
ES Sahel (Tunisia)
Esperance (Tunisia)
FC Nouadhibou (Mauritania)
Jwaneng Galaxy (Botswana)
Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) Medeama SC (Ghana)
Petro de Luanda (Angola)
Pyramids (Egypt)
Simba SC (Tanzania)
TP Mazembe (DR Congo)
Wydad AC (Morocco)
Young Africans (Tanzania).
CAF Confederation Cup clubs
Abo Selim (Libya)
Al Hilal Benghazi (Libya)
APC Lobito (Angola)
Club Africain (Tunisia)
Diables Noirs (Congo)
Dreams FC (Ghana)
Future FC (Egypt)
RS Berkane (Morocco), Sagrada Esperanca (Angola)
Sekhukhune United (South Africa)
Stade Malien (Mali)
SuperSport United (South Africa)
SOAR (Guinea)
RIVERS UNITED (Nigeria)
USM Alger (Algeria)
Zamalek (Egypt).
