Reigning Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) champions Enyimba International, and Remo Stars, who are Nigeria’s representatives in the CAF Champions League, have been handed tricky opponents following the conclusion of the draw on Tuesday, www.aclsports.com reports.
The draw which was conducted at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt witnessed 54 clubs from 42 member nations being drawn for the first preliminary round, while the draw for the second round was also conducted.
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Enyimba, who claimed a record ninth league crown in June in Lagos, will face Libyan opposition Ahli Benghazi in the first round of the CAF Champions League. The People’s Elephants will travel to Libya for the first leg, before hosting the North Africans in Nigeria a week later. The winner of this contest will go ahead to face the winner of the clash between CotonSport of Benin and ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’Ivoire in the second round.
Meanwhile, debutants Remo Stars will contend with Ghanaian champions Medeama FC with the first leg to be played in Ghana and the return leg to be played in Nigeria. The winner of the match-up will face Horoya of Guinea in the second round for a place in the group stage of this season’s Champions League.
The first leg of both first-round encounters has been fixed for 18-20 of August with the second leg to be played 25-27 of August.
Confederation Cup
Due to their run to the Quarter-final of the competition last season, Rivers United were exempted from the preliminary round. The 2022 champions of the NPFL will face the winner of the tie between Ziguinchor of Senegal and Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso in the second round.
Federation Cup champions Bendel Insurance have the most difficult route of all the Nigerian representatives. The Benin Arsenals will face Algerian side ASO Chlef in the first round and if they progress they will go on to face Moroccan giants RS Berkane for a place in the group stages of the Confed Cup.
Enyimba, Remo Stars and Bendel Insurance will all feature in the first round next month, while Rivers United will play in the second round in September.
