Tanzania Premier League side, Simba Sc have been drawn to face two teams from North Africa and one from the CECAFA Zone in the group stage of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.

During the draw supervised by the CAF Director of Competitions and Events, Samson Adamu on Tuesday in Cairo, Egypt, Simba SC were placed in Group A alongside CS Sfaxien (Tunisia), CS Constantine (Algeria) and Angola’s FC Bravos.

Legends Lawrence Siphiwe Dambuza Tshabalala, a former South African player and Al Hilal coach Florent Ibenge helped conduct the draw.

To qualify for the group stage, Simba SC eliminated Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli 3-1 on goal aggregate in the second preliminary round.

The record 22 time Tanzania Premier League champions Simba SC are the only team that will carry the CECAFA flag in the Zone after Burundi’s Rukinzo FC and Kenya Police all exited at the second preliminary stage.

Former champions RS Berkane (Morocco) have been placed in Group B with Stade Malien (Mali), Stellenbosch FC (South Africa) and CD Lunda – Sul FC. USM Alger (Algeria), ASEC Mimosa (Ivory Coast), and ASC Jaraaf (Senegal) are placed in Group C.

The reigning champion, fresh from winning the CAF Super Cup Zamalek (Egypt) are placed in Group D together with Al Masry (Egypt), Enyimba FC (Nigeria) and Black Bulls FC (Mozambique).

The group stage is expected to kick off in the last week of November 2024.

Simba SC have booked a place in the group stage of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.

The Tanzania Premier League side battled from a goal down at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dra es Salaam on Sunday to defeat Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli 3-1 on Sunday to qualify for the group stage.

After only 17 minutes Angolan striker Paciencia Mabululu intercepted a back-pass and slotted the ball in the net to give the visitors the lead. But Simba SC fought back strongly to score through Dennis Kibu and Leonel Ateba to give them a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Later in the second half Simba continued to dominate play and added a third goal through Edwin Balua to ensure the Tanzanian team qualified on a 3-1 goal aggregate.

Simba Sc becomes the only team from the CECAFA Zone that has qualified for the group stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup after Burundi’s Rukinzo FC and Kenya Police all exited at the second preliminary stage.

Simba SC has now qualified for the group stage together with CS Constantine, USM Alger (Algeria), Orapa United (Botswana), Black Bulls FC (Mozambique), Bravos do Maquis, Lunda Sul FC (Angola), Stellenbosch FC (South Africa), CS Sfaxien (Tunisia), Al Masry, Zamalek FC (Egypt), Enyimba FC (Nigeria), Stade Malien (Mali), ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast), RS Berkane (Morocco) and ASC Jaraaf (Senegal).

Tanzania’s Simba SC have settled for a goalless draw against Al Ahli Tripoli (Libya) in their first leg second preliminary round of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.

Simba SC created some good scoring chances in the match played at the Tripoli International Stadium in Libya on Sunday, but failed to make them count.

In another match involving a team from the CECAFA Zone played today, Burundi’s Rukinzo FC lost 1-0 to CS Sfaxien in a match played at the Tareb Mhiri Stadium in Sfax.

Mohamed Dhaoui netted the lone goal in the first half of the match hosted by Rukinzo FC. The Burundian champions opted to host the match in Tunisia because they do not have a Stadium approved by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to host International matches.

On Saturday Kenya Police suffered a 1-0 defeat to Zamalek (Egypt) in a match played in Nairobi.

The three teams will now hope to make the return legs count when Kenya Police battle Zamalek on September 20th in Cairo, Rukinzo battle CS Sfaxien on September 21^st, while Simba SC host Al Ahly Tripoli the next day at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Teams that win over two legs will automatically qualify for the group stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup

Kenya Police and Burundi’s Rukinzo FC have qualified for the 2^nd preliminary round of the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.

After battling to a goalless draw in the first leg against Horseed FC from Somalia, Rukinzo made no mistake winning the return leg 2-0 in a match played on Friday at the Azam Complex in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Ramela Hererimana gave Rukinzo FC the lead after 12 minutes, and Issa Bigirimana netted the second goal 18 minutes later.

Kenya Police also stopped hosts Ethiopia Coffee FC 1-0 to qualify for the next round. South Sudan international Rashid Toka headed in ken Police’s goal after 14 minutes at the Abebe Bikila Stadium. But the home side continued to dictate the pace of the game, but failed to find the goals.

Tanzania’s Coastal Union Fc also settled for a goalless draw against Angola’s Bravos do Moquis in a match played on Sunday to bow out on a 3-0 goal aggregate. Algeria’s CA Constantine also ejected Rwanda’s Police FC 4-1 on aggregate.

On Saturday South Sudan Cup holders Jamus lost 4-0 away to Stade Tunisien at the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium to bow out on a 5-0 goal aggregate.

In other matches played over the weekend by teams from the CECAFA Zone Uganda’s Kitara FC were ejected by Al Hilal Benghazi (Libya) on a 6-4 goal aggregate, while another Libya side Al Ahli Tripoli also qualified for the 2nd preliminary round after ejecting Uhamiaji FC (Zanzibar) 5-1 on aggregate.