Kaizer Chiefs could face Mamelodi Sundowns and Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League group stage depending on Friday’s draw at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
BAPTISM OF FIRE FOR KAIZER CHIEFS
The draw will take place at 14:00 SA time.
It could be a baptism of fire for Amakhosi as the prepare for their first ever foray in the group stages of Africa’s elite club competition.
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The 16 teams remaining in the tournament have been drawn into four pots (1 to 4) of four teams each based on their seeding over the course of a rolling five-year period based on performances in both the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
The top four seeded teams have been placed in Pot 1, then next four in Pot 2 and so on.
One team from each pot will be drawn in each of the four groups (A to D) that will then play each other both home and away to determine the top two sides in each group who will then move on to the tournament’s quarter-finals.
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Chiefs, who overcame Primeiro de Agosto of Angola in the first round, have been placed in Pot 4 alongside fellow debutants Teungueth from Senegal, Algeria’s CR Belouizdad and Al Merrikh of Sudan.
MOSIMANE IS A PREVIOUS SUNDOWNS COACH
Sundowns, meanwhile, find themselves in Pot 2, meaning the only teams they cannot face are in the group stage are fellow Pot 2 teams Egypt’s Zamalek, Horoya from Guinea and AS Vita Club from the DRC.
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Pitso Mosimane’s new side, Egypt’s Al Ahly, are the top seeds and share Pot 1 with Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Esperance (Tunisia) and TP Mazembe (DRC).
Mosimane is of course a former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns coach, meaning a reunion of sorts with South Africa could well be on the cards.
SUNDOWNS COULD FACE CHIEFS AND AL AHLY
In a worst (best?) case scenario, Al Ahly could be drawn with both Sundowns and Chiefs with no restrictions against two clubs from the same country being drawn into the same group.
Match day 1 will take place on 12-13 February, 2021 and the final group matches are currently scheduled for 9-10 April, 2021.
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