Enyimba draw E. S. Setif, Orlando Pirates, Ahly Benghazi

NIGERIA’S only remaining campaigner in African inter- club competitions, Enyimba of Aba, have been drawn in Group A of the CAF Confederation Cup, where they will battle with two former African champions, Entente Setif of Algeria and Orlando Pirates of South Africa. Also in the group is Ahly Benghazi of Libya, who are perennial campaigners in Africa’s top competitions.

The Confederation Cup draw held at the CFA headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday pitted Enyimba against 1988 African champions, Entente Setif of Algeria, 1995 kings, Orlando Pirates and Libya’s Ahly Benghazi.

Enyimba will begin their campaign in the competition on March 10 against Ahly Benghazi in Aba before going to South Africa to confront Orlando Pirates on March 17. Enyimba and Setif have won the CAF Champions League twice each and Pirates once while Benghazi did well to reach the last 16 as they could not play at home for security reasons.

Defending champions, Renaissance Berkane of Morocco are in Group B with JS Kabylie of Algeria, Coton Sport of Cameroun and NAPSA Stars of Zambia.

Berkane beat Pyramids of Egypt 1- 0 in the 2020 final and hope to become the first of five Moroccan winners of the competition to successfully defend the title.

Two Tunisian teams could play in Group C if Etoile Sahel beat Young Buffaloes of eswatini in a delayed second leg having established a 2- 1 aggregate lead in the southern African kingdom.

The winners will join record three- time Confederation Cup winners CS Sfaxien of Tunisia and two West African contenders, Salitas of Burkina Faso and ASC Jaraaf of Senegal. Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Pyramids are in Group D with Nkana of Zambia, who have never lost at home in 64 CAF matches, and the winners between Namungo of Tanzania and Primeiro Agosto of Angola.

The group winners and runners- up qualify for quarterfinals of the competition.