Soccer
Buffaloes to face Sudanese giants
ZAMBIA’s representatives in the newly introduced African Confederations Cup, Green Buffaloes have landed a tough preliminary date against Sudanese giants El-Mereikh.And Zanaco, the African Champions League envoys would have to wait for a play-off between Tanzania’s Young Africans and a team from Zanzibar.
According to draws conducted in Egypt at the weekend, Buffaloes, who reached the quarter-finals of the defunct CAF Cup this year, will first be away on March 5 or 6 with a second leg a fort-night later at home.
Should Buffaloes get over El-Mereikh, no strange name to Zambia, they will host, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) giants, FC Motema Pemba in the first round of the competition.
The first round begins in the weekend of April 19-21 with the return matches taking place two weeks later.
The last time El-Mereikh came to Zambia was in 2001 when they wired then Zambian champions Power Dynamos 4-1 on aggregate, winning in both legs.
El-Mereikh bashed Power 2-0 in Khartoum before bundling out the millennium Zambian champions with a 2-1 win at Arthur Davies stadium in Kitwe.
El-Mereikh, whose players make-up the bulk of the Sudan national team, were this year knocked-out of African Champions League by an Algerian team in the first round at the same time as Zanaco.
Zanaco’s second consecutive campaign in the lucrative CAF Champions League has received an otherwise fairer trail against Young Africans on March 5 or 6.
But that will depend on whether a Young Africans appeal to CAF to ignore the Zanzibar side gets through. The CAF has given the two sides up to Christmas Day to sort out their mess.
After the Tanzania opposition, Zanaco, in the African club championship series for the fourth consecutive year, have a mouth watering first round date with the winner of the tie between Bakili Bullets of Malawi or Villa Sports Club of Uganda.
Bakili Bullets are debutantes in the CAF clubs football while Villa Sports last came to Zambia in 1983 when they lost 4-0 to Nkana in Kitwe but won 2-1 in Kampala to go out on a 5-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.
The first round begins on April 9, 10 or 11.
CAF replaced the African Cup Winners Cup and the CAF Cup with the new Confederations Cup, offering a share of television and marketing revenue to clubs that reached the last eight.
But Reuters reported at the weekend that the promise of increased prize money had failed to stimulate interest in Africa’s annual club competitions, with almost 20 per cent of potential entrants staying out of next year’s events.
Ten African countries have failed to submit entrants for next year’s new African Confederation Cup, which is an amalgamation of the old Cup Winners, the CAF Cup, and the African Champions League.
CAF had been hoping for a full quota of teams for both competitions following changes in their formats.
The Champions League has been expanded to 64 teams to allow major countries to have a second representative, while the new Confederation Cup offers clubs the opportunity to participate in a league format in the latter stages. The last eight clubs will earn a share of projected revenue from television and marketing revenue.
The Champions League offers around $3.5 million in revenue to the clubs, including $1 million for the winners.
[Times of Zambia]
