New club continental season kicked-off in a new calendar. It will be shortest ever as it will only last for seven months. CL title holder, Esperance de Tunis, is the first title holder to be directly qualified to the group stage. Other teams are fighting for remaining 15 spots. Last season's semifinalist, Primeiro do Agosto, is already out. Also, last season's group stage participant, Mbabane Swallows, lost 8-1 on aggregate to Tanzanian Simba, just like Township Rollers who lost out to Bantu of Lesotho. Here are the First round match-ups, winners will qualify to the group stage: There will be at least three teams to make their group stage debut: winners of matches 2, 10 and 15. There could be as many as eight debutants. Here are the Confederation Cup first round matches. Winners will face eliminated teams from the Champions League. It is unclear how will 15 CL teams and 16 CC teams draw work for Second round. It might be that one team will qualify directly to group stage, or there will be a lucky loser from First round to make it to 32 teams. Matches in both competitions are scheduled for next two weekends.
CL group stage and CC final preliminary round draws are set for tomorrow. Constantine and Saoura of Algeria and Platinum of Zimbabwe are set for their debut in the Champions League group stage. Nigerian Lobi Stars returns after 18 years. TP Mazembe, Al-Ahly, Wydad and title holders Esperance are first seeds. Mamelodi, Vita, Horoya and Club Africain are in second pot. Orlando Pirates, ASEC, Constantine and Platinum are in third while Saoura, Simba, Ismaily and Lobi Stars complete the line in fourth pot. Confederation Cup draw will get 15 match-ups for last qualifying round - 15 CL teams will face 15 winners of second qualifying round. Winners will join Etoile du Sahel (who was first qualifying round winner with best coefficient so they got direct group stage berth).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_CAF_Champions_League_group_stage says: Group A has Lobi Stars, Wydad, ASEC, and Mamelodi. Group B has Platinum, Horoya, Esperance, and Orlando Pirates. Group C has TP Mazembe, Club Africain, Constantine, and Ismaily. Group D has Al-Ahly, Simba, Saoura, and Vita.
Group A looks like the toughest one. My predictions: Mamelodi, Wydad Esperance, Horoya TPM, Ismaily Al-Ahly, Vita
Ismaily was disqualified from the competition because of fans' riots and throwing rocks on referees and away fans in match against Club Africain. And Club Africain suffered huge humiliation today, they lost 8-0 at TP Mazembe and that is the biggest win in group stage (or later stages) history. Confederation Cup group stage starts tomorrow. Group A is consisted of three Moroccan teams with Congolese champion Otoho. Group B has two Tunisian teams, Enugu and Salitas, first Burkina Faso team to feature in CAF competition group stage. Group C has both Zambian teams, Al-Hilal and Asante Kotoko. In group D we have Gor Mahia, Hussein Dey, Petro and Zamalek.
Knockout stage started with a bang as Mamelodi Sundowns steam rolled over greatest African club Al Ahly with a 5-0 win. TP Mazembe drew 0-0 at Simba while Esperance won at Constantine 2-3. Horoya and Wydad also played goalles draw in last game of the day. Return legs are to be played next weekend.
Al-Ahly, the African record champions from Egypt, are the first African sports club with a transfer value over $50 million according to Crescent.
According to Transfermarkt, Al-Ahly’s transfer value is $40 million. According to Crescent, it is $50 million. Both estimates are the highest of any estimates for African clubs.
Pyramids FC from Egypt are now called the PSG of Africa. They’ve spent over €52 million on players last year, an African record. Only 36 clubs spent more. A Saudi investor wants to make them one of the best clubs in the world.
According to Crescent, Pyramids FC is the African club with the highest transfer value now, around $50 million. They’ve beaten Al-Ahly, who also recently lost their CAF Champions League match against the Mamelodi Sundowns.
Pyramids FC will invest a huge amount of money in new players again this summer. They want to win the Egyptian and African title next year. With the money of Turki al-Sheikh, those seems to be a realistic targets. Pyramids FC is now the Egyptian financial powerhouse, followed by Al-Ahly. Zamalek is third with a transfer value around $22 million.