The race to succeed TP Mazembe gets going this weekend

The campaign to crown the champion club in Africa gets going this weekend with 22 matches scheduled across the continent.

Champions TP Mazembe sit out the opening round but former winners, including Enyimba of Nigeria and ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast, do play.

Another former winner in action is Egypt's Zamalek, who have travelled to Nairobi to play Ulinzi Stars.

East African teams are often seen as being much weaker than their North African counterparts, but Ulinzi Stars coach Benjamin Nyangweso has called on his players to shake off that attitude.

"We have to remove that mentality because that's why we are failing, they are just players like other players - they are just a team like any team," he told the BBC's African sports programme Fast Track.

Other matches to watch out for this weekend include former champions Club Africain of Tunisia, who have travelled to Rwanda to take on APR and Nigeria's Kano Pillars, who will be away to Mighty Barolle of Liberia.

The second legs of these preliminary ties will be played on 11-13 February and the next round will take place in March and April.

Mazembe, along with Sudanese teams El Merreikh and El Hilal, Egypt's Al Ahly, Al Ittihad of Libya, Entente Setif from Algeria, Tunisia's Esperance, Dynamos of Zimbabwe and Stade Malien of Mali have all been given byes until the second stage of the tournament.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version