CAF: Rangers to play Comoros club, Remo face familiar foes

Nigeria’s representatives in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup have known their routes to the group stages, with NPFL champions Enugu Rangers drawn against US Zilimadjou of Comoros in the first preliminary round of the Champions League, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Remo Stars, who ended last season in second place in the NPFL, were drawn against ASFAR of Morocco, following the completion of the preliminary rounds draw in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday.

Rangers are on course to face the winners of the clash between St. Louis of Seychelles and GDSE of Angola in the second round.

Rangers host Zilimadjou in the first leg between August 16 and 18 while the second leg holds a week later between August 23-35 in the Comoros.

Remo were handed Moroccan side ASFAR, the same team that knocked them out in the second preliminary round of the Confederation Cup in 2022.

If they scale the ASFAR hurdle this time, another test awaits them in the second round, where they will either meet a highly-ranked Libyan club or El Merreikh of Egypt.

In the CAF Confederation Cup, Federation Cup winners El-Kanemi Warriors were drawn against Dadje FC of Benin Republic.

El-Kanemi will host the first leg in Nigeria while the second leg will follow in Benin Republic. Former champions RS Berkane await them in the second preliminary round if they progress.

Nine-time Nigerian champions Enyimba were exempted from the first round of the preliminaries as one of the highest-ranked teams in the competition and will be waiting to face the winners between Haifa (Guinea) vs Rahimo (Burkina Faso) to reach the group stage.

Rangers are back on the continent for the first time since 2016 with the hope of advancing to the group stages as they have been busy recruiting players in the last week.

For Remo, it’s their third consecutive season on the continent but have never reached the group stages before.

Last season, Rivers United managed to reach the quarter-finals of the Confederation Cup.

Enyimba remains the most successful Nigerian club on the continent with their back-to-back CAF Champions League titles in 2003 and 2004.

The Aba giants will hope to return to the group stage of the second-tier tournament having failed to make it beyond the preliminary round of the first-tier last season.