African Champions League: Holders Esperance to face Zamalek in quarter-finals

Holders Esperance of Tunisia have drawn Zamalek of Egypt in the quarter-finals of this year’s African Champions League with a repeat of last season’s controversial final against Wydad Casablanca possible.

Zamalek and Esperance will also meet in the African Super Cup in Qatar on 14 February.

The first leg of the quarter-finals will be played on 28 and 29 February, with the return legs set for a week later.

The African Confederation Cup draw was also made in Cairo on Wednesday.

African Champions League

Record eight-time winners Al Ahly of Egypt will host the 2016 champions Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa in the first leg of their tie.

Raja Casablanca of Morocco, who won the last of their three titles in 1999, host DR Congo’s TP Mazembe, who have won the title five times.

Another Moroccan club, Wydad Casablanca, will face Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel, winners in 2007.

The semi-final draw was also made and has thrown up the possibility of another final between Esperance and Wydad Casablanca.

Last year’s climax to Africa’s elite club competition ended in controversy. Esperance were awarded the title after Wydad left the pitch when an equaliser they scored was disallowed,

Esperance were leading 1-0 in the second leg at the time and 2-1 overall.

Either Raja or Mazembe will face Zamalek or Esperance in the first semi-final with Wydad or Etoile drawing Ahly or Sundowns in the other.

African Champions League quarter-finals draw:

Al Ahly (Egypt) v Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa)

Raja Casablanca (Morocco) v TP Mazembe (DR Congo)

Zamalek (Egypt) v Esperance (Holders, Tunisia)

Wydad Casablanca (Morocco) v Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia)

African Champions League semi-finals draw:

Raja Casablanca/TP Mazembe v Zamalek/Esperance

Wydad Casablanca/Etoile du Sahel v Al Ahly/Mamelodi Sundowns

African Confederation Cup

The draw for the knock-out stage of the Confederation Cup was held in Cairo before the Champions League draw.

Libyan side Al-Nasr, who have qualified despite not having a league to play in at the moment, will meet Hassania Agadir of Morocco.

Zambia’s Zanaco will take on Pyramids of Egypt whose compatriots Al Masry meet last year’s runners-up, Renaissance Berkane of Morocco.

Nigeria’s Enyimba face Guinea’s Horoya in ties to be started later this month.

The two-legged quarter-finals are set for 1 March, with the return legs a week later.

The semi-finals, which will also be played over two legs, will be played in May after the African Nations Championship (CHAN).

None of the sides left in African football’s second-tier competition have ever lifted the trophy.

This year for the first time, Africa’s continental club finals will be a single match with the Champions League final set for 29 May and the Confederation Cup the previous weekend.

The venues for both matches have yet to be announced.

Confederation Cup draw:

Zanaco (Zambia) v Pyramids (Egypt)

Al Nasr (Libya) v Hasania Agadir (Morocco)

Al Masry (Egypt) v RS Berkane (Morocco)

Enyimba (Nigeria) v Horoya AC (Guinea)

Source: BBC