Enugu Rangers, Remo Stars Get CAF Champions League Pre-Round Opponents

The 2023-2024 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) champions, Enugu Rangers, and last season’s second runner-up, Remo Stars, have gotten their opponents for the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League.

Enugu Rangers and Remo Stars qualified for the prestigious club competition in Africa through their positions in the just concluded NPFL season. However, they will not stroll into the Champions League group stage like representatives of other top leagues on the continent.

Rangers and Remo Stars have been subjected to the rigour of going through the Preliminary round of the competition due to the poor performance of Nigerian clubs in the competition in recent years.

Note that no Nigerian club has ever made it to the semi-final stage of the competition since Enyimba of Aba won the continental title in 2004.

Enugu Rangers will start their quest to change the narrative by facing US Zilimadjou of Comoros in the preliminary round as announced by the Confederation of Africa Football at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday, July 11.

If they scale through the lowly rated club, the NPFL champions will face either St Louis of Mauritius or Angola’s GDSE in the second preliminary round.

As for Remo Stars, they will start their journey in the competition against AS FAR of Morocco. If they scale through, they will face either Sudan’s El Merreikh or a club from Libya.

Note that the first leg of the preliminary round will start on August 16 and end on August 18, while the second leg will take place on August 23 and end on August 25.