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).

Kenya Police FC have exited the 2024/2025 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup after losing 3-1 to on a goal aggregate to Egypt’s Zamalek FC.

After losing the first leg 1-0 a week ago in Nairobi, the Kenyan representatives put-up a spirited first in the return leg played at the Cairo International Stadium, but lost 2-1 in a match played on Friday evening.

The Kenya Police side managed to hold the Egyptian side to a goalless first half, before they returned and changed their game strategy.

Ahmed ‘Zizo’ gave Zamalek the lead after 55 minutes with a good volley past the Kenya Police goalkeeper Patrick Matasi after good spade work by Omar Jaber. Six minutes later a defensive blunder by the Kenya Police defenders and goalkeeper Matasi gave the hosts chance to extend their lead through Nasser Maher.

Kenya Police pulled a goal back through Jesse Were after 66 minutes as they kept pushing forward. The Kenyan side that ejected Ethiopia Coffee FC 1-0 on aggregate in the first preliminary round tried to search for more goals, but to no avail.

On Saturday Burundi’s Rukinzo FC who lost the first leg 1-0 will be in action against CS Sfaxien in Tunisia, while Simba SC (Tanzania) will host Al Ahili Tripoli (Libya) at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.

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.