Ten more teams advance in Champions League

by Graeme Jackson

Sunday Aug 25, 2024. 09:49

Saturday’s CAF Champions League action saw 10 more teams secure progression into the second qualifying round, including dramatic penalty shootout triumphs for Jwaneng Galaxy and Stade Abidjan.

Botswana’s Galaxy defeated Namibian side African Stars 1-0 in Gaborone to leave the tie locked at 1-1 on aggregate, before taking the shootout 6-5 to advance and book a second-round clash against South African heavyweights Orlando Pirates.

Ivorian side Stade Abidjan managed a 1-1 draw away to Senegal’s Teungueth FC to leave their tie at 2-2 overall, before a 5-4 penalty win to move into the next phase, where they will face either Milo FC (Guinea) or FC Nouadhibou (Mauritania).

Tanzania’s Young Africans had no such difficulties in their clash against Vital’O (Burundi), claiming an emphatic 6-0 win on the day for a 10-0 overall destruction. Vital’O did themselves no favours by having a men sent off in each half of the match.

Yanga’s compatriots, Azam FC, were knocked out 2-0 (2-1 on aggregate) by Rwanda’s APR, while Zambia’s Red Arrows defeated Nyasa Big Bullets (Malawi) 2-0 to take their tie 3-2 on aggregate and set up a showdown with DR Congo’s TP Mazembe.

Al Merrikh (Sudan), Sagrada Esperanca (Angola) and Pyramids FC (Egypt) all advanced with varying degrees of comfort, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia clung on for a 1-1 draw (3-2 aggregate win) against Uganda’s SC Villa, and Moroccan heavyweights Raja Casablanca blitzed Nigerien visitors AS GNN 5-0 at Larbi Zaouli Stadium in the day’s final match, for a 7-1 aggregate victory.

The first qualifying round continues on Sunday 25 August, headlined by AS FAR (Morocco) looking to overturn a 1-2 deficit against Remo Stars (Nigeria) at the Moulay Hassan Stadium in Rabat.

CAF Champions League results, Saturday 24 August

First round, second-leg matches. Aggregate score in parenthesis.

Commercial Bank OE (Ethiopia) 1-1 SC Villa (Uganda) (3-2)

Al Merrikh (Sudan) 2-0 Al Nasr (Libya) (2-0)

Red Arrows (Zambia) 2-0 Nyasa Big Bullets (Malawi) (3-2)

Jwaneng Galaxy (Botswana) 1-0 African Stars (Namibia) (1-1 – Galaxy won 6-5 on penalties)

Sagrada Esperanca (Angola) 3-0 Saint Louis Suns United (Seychelles) (4-0)

APR FC (Rwanda) 2-0 Azam FC (Tanzania) (2-1)

Young Africans (Tanzania) 6-0 Vital’O (Burundi) (10-0)

Pyramids FC (Egypt) 3-1 JKU SC (Zanzibar) (9-1)

Teungueth FC (Senegal) 1-1 Stade Abidjan (Ivory Coast) (2-2 – Abidjan won 5-4 on penalties)

Raja Casablanca (Morocco) 5-0 AS GNN (Niger) (7-1)