Three CECAFA Zone teams storm Champions League group stage

Three teams from the CECAFA Zone have qualified to play in the group stage of the 2023/2024 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Tanzania’s Young Africans SC, last years’ TotalEnergies Caf Confederation Cup finalists stormed the group stage first after seeing off Al Merriekh (Sudan) 1-0 last Saturday and qualifying 3-0 on aggregate.

Miguel Gamondi, the Young Africans SC head coach said he was happy the players had worked hard to reach the group stage. ” Our people should be assured that we will come stronger in the group stage and try to play good football, ” added Gamondi.

Another Tanzanian side Simba SC, quarter finalists last season fought back to pick a 1-1 draw against Power Dynamos (Zambia) at the Azam Complex in Tanzania, and qualified on away goals rule since they had tied 3-3.

The Simba SC coach Roberto Oliviera ‘Robertinho’ also made it clear that although it was a tough struggle to get to the group stage, they will organise and be very competitive in the group stage. ” Our target is to go a step better than we did last season. ” added Oliveira.

Sudan’s Al Hilal also booked their ticket after seeing off Angola’s Primeiro de Agosto 2-1 in a match they hosted at the Ben M’Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida in Morocco. The Al Hilal team has been out of their base in Khartoum for several months since the war broke out in Sudan in April.

The 16 teams that made it to the group stage will await the draw to be conducted on October 6th, 2023. The 16 teams that qualified for the group stage include ; Young Africans SC, Simba SC (Tanzania), Al Hilal (Sudan), Wydad AC (Morocco), Esperance de Tunis, Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia), CR Belouizdad (Algeria), Jwaneng Galaxy (Botswana), FC Nouadhibou (Mauritania), ASEC Mimosas (Cote d’Ivoire), TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Petro de Luanda (Angola), Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), Pyramids, Al Ahly (Egypt), Medeama (Ghana)