NEWS
Al Hilal progress to second qualifying round of Arab Club Champions Cup
Sudan’s Al Hilal Omdurman have progressed to the second qualifying round of the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup.
Coach Florent Ibenge’s team qualified on a 4-2 goal aggregate on Monday night to make it to the next stage.
Ali Hilal defeated Bahrain’s Manama FC 3-0 in the first leg played in Khartoum, but lost 2-1 in the return leg played at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium on Monday. Ghanaian forward David Sandan Abgna gave the Sudan Premier League side the lead after 23 minutes.
But the home side fought back strongly to score through a penalty after 3 minutes through Isa Moosa and four minutes later Ebrahim Al-Khatal made it 2-1. But Al-Hilal returned in the second half and defended well to deny Manama more goals.
Ibenge’s team will now face Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien in the second qualifying round. CS Sfaxien saw off Qatar SC in the first round.
Another Sudan Premier League side Al Merriekh was last night ejected by Syrian Premier League side, Tishreen.
After winning the first leg 2-1, the Sudan team suffered a 1-0 defeat and Tishreen qualified on the away goal’s rule.
Djibouti’s AS Arta Solar 7 and Horseed FC (Somalia) are the other teams from the CECAFA Zone that played in the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup.
The 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, also known as the King Salman Club Cup has this year attracted 37 teams from Asia and Africa. The group stages of the Cup will be played in July, while the final is slated for August 5th, 2023.
The Cup with a US$10 million of prize money will see the winners bag US$6,000,000, while the runners-up will pocket US $2,500,000. The semi-finalists will take US$200,000, quarter-finalists US$150,000, and the teams in the group stage US$100,000, and Preliminary round US$20,000.