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MBABANE – It will not be an easy journey for local Eswatini teams Royal Leopard and Mbabane Highlanders in the CAF inter-clubs competitions.
They face tough teams that qualified for the tournament from almost all over Africa. The teams will learn their fates in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup after draws today. Royal Leopard will be playing in Africa’s premier club tournament while Highlanders are CAF Confederation Cup envoys.
The preliminary round draw takes place at 2pm today at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Both Highlanders and Leopard will start their campaign in the preliminary rounds.
Some of the teams that qualified for the CAF Champions League include South Africa’s giants Mamelodi Sundowns, who will start their campaign in the group stages. Others are Zambia’s Red Arrows, South Africa’s Cape Town City, Egypt giants Zamalek, DR Congo’s TP Mazembe and Angola’s Primeiro de Agosto, among others.
Meanwhile, Highlanders also have a mountain to climb as some of the teams in the CAF Confederation Cup have experience and they include Egypt Al Ahly, Zambia’s Zesco United, South Africa’s Royal AM and Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien.
Leopard stand a chance of playing in the CAF Confederation Cup preliminary round if they lose in the second stage of the preliminaries in the CAF Champions League.
“The teams eliminated from the Second Preliminary round of the CAF Champions League will automatically qualify to play the additional Second Preliminary round of the Confederation Cup of the same season,” reads part of the rules and regulations.