The groups for the CAF Champions League and the playoff round ties for the CAF Confederation Cup will be revealed today when the Confederation of African Football holds a glittering draw in Egypt.
This event will take place at the Hilton Pyramids Resort, 6th October City just outside of Cairo. The 16 teams which have progressed into the group phase of the Champions League are arranged into pots according to their ranking (based on performances in CAF competitions in recent years), with one team drawn from each of the four divisions and placed into a group (four groups of four teams each).
In the Confederation Cup, the 16 teams which have progressed through the first two preliminary rounds will be paired against a team which lost in the second preliminary round of the Champions League. Again a seeding system is derived using CAF rankings.
However, the exact line-up for each draw is yet to be 100 percent finalised as CAF’s decision regards to the Champions League last 32 tie between Zamalek (Egypt) and Generation Foot (Senegal) is being awaited as at press time.
The Senegalese team held a 2-1 lead from the first leg of their tie against the White Knights, but refused to fulfil the return game on the final weekend of September when CAF, at late notice, shifted the date and venue of the return game.
This led to a 3-0 win being awarded to Zamalek, who have been bracketed into the Champions League draw as a result, but CAF said they are investigating the issue, with Generation Foot threatening to take the issue to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Regardless, the draw promises to be an engrossing affair, as we find out the fate of continental heavyweights such as current Champions League title holders Esperance de Tunis, Egyptian giants Zamalek and DR Congo’s imperious TP Mazembe, right down to a club like TS Galaxy, a second-tier South African side which has enjoyed a fairytale run into the playoff round of the Confederation Cup and stand just 180 minutes away from the lucrative group stages.