As six teams secure qualification
Defending champions Al Ahly Photo credit: CAFonline
- Defending champions Ahly, joined by five strong contenders in the quarter-finals
- Two quarter-final places remain for the taking in Match Day 6
- Photo-finish expected in group stages closing
Six Teams have secured their place in this season’s TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Quarter-finals after some nail-biting rounds of Match Day 5 fixtures on Friday and Saturday, CAFonline reports.
Defending champions and Egyptian giants Al Ahly remain on course to their title defense after a 1-0 victory over Ghana’s Medeama, which saw them through to the exciting knockout phase of the competition with a game to spare.
Joining the reigning champions after Match Day 5 are five strong African clubs: Ivorian side Asec Mimosas; South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, who are also the African Football League champions; Angola’s Petro de Luanda, former African Champions and FIFA Club World Cup finalists TP Mazembe and Tanzania’s Young Africans who all qualify for the quarter-finals of the continent’s premier club competition with a game in hand.
Of the current six teams that have officially booked their places, only two are yet to taste continental success, with Al Ahly (11), Asec Mimosas (1), Mamelodi Sundowns (1), and TP Mazembe (5) all having previously lifted Africa’s most coveted club football trophy.
The qualification of the six teams officially sets up a grand closing to the competition’s group stages in what is sure to be a dramatic race to secure the last two available spots on Match Day 6, scheduled for 01 – 02 March.
Mamelodi Sundowns and TP Mazembe are through in Group A. Group D was decided by Ahly and Young Africans’ respective wins, meaning that the two remaining places will be contested in Groups B and C.
In Group B, Morocco’s Wydad AC, who had a relatively slow start to their Group Stage campaign, injected life into the title ambitions with a 1-0 win over Jwaneng Galaxy in Botswana – a result that sees them tied on six (6) points with Simba AC, who face Jwaneng Galaxy in next week’s final round. At the same time, Wydad takes on the high-flying Asec Mimosas.
In Group C, Petro de Luanda’s qualification leaves the race for second place to be contested by Esperance Sportive de Tunis and Al-Hilal. Interestingly, the two sides face each other head-on in a fixture that promises to produce fireworks in Tunis on Saturday evening.
TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Match Day 6 Fixtures:
Friday, 01 March
16h00 GMT | CR Belouizdad – Medeama
16h00 GMT | Al Ahly – Young Africans
Saturday, 02 March
13h00 GMT | Pyramids – Nouadhibou
13h00 GMT | Mamelodi Sundowns – TP Mazembe
16h00 GMT | Simba – Jwaneng*
16h00 GMT | Wydad – Asec*
19h00 GMT | ES Tunis – Al-Hilal*
19h00 GMT | Petro de Luanda – ES Sahel
TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Group Standings and Match Day 5 Results HERE
