The Caf Confederation Cup which is the second tier competition for African teams can be traced to its merger of the CAF Cup and African Cup Winners Cup, which teams who couldn’t qualify for the main competition ‘CAF Champions League’ fall back on.
The domestic cup winners from all 55 CAF member associations are eligible to participate. The third-placed club in the domestic league of the top twelve placed CAF member associations also qualifies to participate.
As such, the competition is now in its next round, today in this article, Cheapgoals will take a look at the top five potential winners of the second-tier CAF Competition, based on their performance and current form.
Name: Hassania Agadir
Country: Morocco
Manager: Mohamed Fakhir
The 2007 Caf Confederation Cup was the fourth edition of the CAF second-tier competition, Its schedule began with the preliminary round home-and-away ties in late January and mid-February with the second round in March and the third round in April.
The Moroccan outfit Agadir made their debut in the competition for that season, but couldn’t move past the second round of the competition, losing to a Nigerian side Dolphins FC via penalty shootout as they failed to made it into the group stages.
The 2018-19 season was a bit better for Agadir compared to their first outing in the tournament in 2007 as they learned from their mistakes by getting to the quarter-finals, Mohamed Fahkir led side were grouped in a group that was touted the group of death with RS Berkane, Raja Casablanca who are from the same league as well as AS Otoho.
Agadir sealed their place at the last eight after a difficult 1-1 draw away to their Nigeria’s opponent Enyimba in group D, and they now top the group with eleven points, though their league form is certainly nothing to write home about as they currently languish in the bottom table, but then with the way they’re playing on the continent they look more like a team that is ready to go a notch higher than what they’ve achieved in their previous outings.
Name: RS Berkane
Country: Morocco
Manager: Tarek Skitiou
The ‘Oranges’ are currently enjoying a blistering run of form both in the league and on the continent, as they’re second behind league leader Wydad Casablanca with 28point this season.
The 2019 CAF Confederation Cup was Berkane first outing on the continent, which was a testament to the fact that their growth has been organic since the club was founded, Berkane got to the final last season but lost to Zamalek of Egypt via penalty shootout.
The Skitiou led side are currently riding on that stride that got them to the final, by topping group B with 10 points, as such if things went according to plan for the Oranges in the competition going forward, they would definitely want to lunch an assault on the second biggest CAF club football tournament.
READ ALSO: CAF Champions League: 5 Teams Most Likely To Win Africa’s Elite Competition
Name: Pyramids FC
Country: Egypt
Manager: Ante Čačić
The journey to the top began for Pyramid in 2008 when the club was still ‘Al Assiouty Sport‘, they got promoted to the Egyptian top-flight in 2014 for the first time in their history, after winning the promotion play-offs.
In 2018, due to their achievement in the Egyptian second-tier division, and how they got promoted to the top flight, the chairman of Saudi Sport Authority, Turki Al Sheik took over the club and also rename the club from ‘Al Assiouty Sport’ to Pyramids, and since then their growth in league has been tremendous.
Fast forward to 2019, the club got another owner in Salem Al Shamsi, a new development that brought about their first outing on the continent in 2018-19 season when they finished third in the league behind Al Ahly and Zamalek, but couldn’t go beyond the playoffs.
This season the Egyptian big-spenders are not leaving any stones unturned as they currently top Group A, which is a testament to their current form on the continent and the league. With their two legs already in the next round, the Ante Cecic led side would want to test their strength in the competition this season, but it left to be seen how things would pan out for them.
Name: Enyimba FC
Country: Nigeria
Manager: Fatai Osho
If past records were anything to go by on the continent, then certainty the Aba Boys can’t be underestimated with what they’ve also achieved, though some might say they’ve not been fantastic on the continent of recent, however, Enyimba still remains one team that could conquer the Confederation Cup.
Enyimba got to the semi-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup in 2018, which was their second appearance in Caf’s second-tier competition, this season the Aba Boys sit second behind Agadir with 7-points with one match left to play against San Pedro.
If things went according to plan for Enyimba and they stand tall to approach other matches like a champion we’ve always known them to be, perhaps we might see another successful year for the Osho led side, however, there are lots of work still to be done.
Name: Al Masry SC
Country: Egypt
Manager: Ehad Galal
2018 Confed Cup performance is certainly one tournament Al Masry will want to borrow their strength from, concerning this season as they sojourn on their quest to win the title.
The Egyptian side got to the semi-finals of the competition in 2018 against AS Vita, but couldn’t move past the DR Congo side, as their first leg encounter ended goalless in Port Said and the rest was history for Al Masry.
This season presents them with another chance to once again lunch an assault to what they couldn’t achieve last time when they got to the semis, Al Masry is second behind group leader Pyramids and as such their next round is guaranteed, but then the task ahead is still very much tough, yet its left to be seen if the Egyptian side could go all out to win the title.
