WIN OR LOSE, BUCS IN POUNDS SEATS
SA giants unlikely to be seeded
SA champions Orlando Pirates are likely to be unseeded when the draw for the group phase of the African Champions League is made in Cairo next week.
But their chances of continuing to do well in the competition are enhanced by a surprise field that features three newcomers and only three of the traditional old guard.
Pirates will find out the identity of their next opponents at the draw on May 15 at the Confederation of African Football’s headquarters where the eight teams are divided into two groups of four – two seeded and two unseeded.
Seeds are determined by recent form in the competition, which means holders Al Ahly of Egypt; last year’s runners-up Esperance of Tunisia; Coton Sport of Cameroon and Zamalek of Egypt are likely to be seeded.
Pirates have an outside chance but it is unlikely they will be seeded.
The three newcomers to the group phase will all be unseeded.
They are surprise package AC Leopards from Congo Brazzaville, who won last year’s African Confederation Cup; Sewe Sport of the Ivory Coast and Recreativo Libolo, the Angolan club that Pirates lost to in the first round of the 2012 Champions League.
The Buccaneers could be presented with a chance for revenge.
The down side of qualifying for the last eight means Pirates will now have a brief vacation after their final game of the sea- son on May 18 and will be back in action just over two months later.
Their first game in the group phases is on the weekend of July 19-21.
The next weekend Pirates play arch rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the annual Carling Black Label Cup at Soccer City on July 27 and the weekend after they go back to Champions League action.
It means they are set for many disruptions to their domestic programme at the start of the 2013-14 season and will have to play catch- up later on.
Pirates are guaranteed six group games until late September.
Should they finish in the top two in the group they go into the semifinals, to be played over two legs, in October.
The final of the Champions League is in November, also over two legs, home and away, with the winner going onto the Fifa Club World Cup in Morocco in December.
Pirates will now earn a minimum of R3.5-million for participating in the league even if they do not win another game.
The Champions League winners get R13,4-million, the runners-up about R9million, the semifinalists R6,2-million and the team which finishes third in the group stage almost R4,5million.
Five percent of this prize money must be given to the South African Football Association, which presents the delicious irony of Irvin Khoza contributing to the coffers of his sworn political enemies at bankrupt Safa.