South African duo head off to African club competition

Soweto giants Kazier Chiefs and Orlando Pirates both compete in continental competition ties this weekend, beginning their respective bids for a berth in the group stages of Africa’s two club competitions.

Pirates compete in the African Champions League for a third successive season, having failed to get into the group stage in 2023-24 but last season going all the way to the semifinals.

Chiefs have qualified for the Confederation Cup, returning to African competition after a four-season absence since the 2020-21 season when they were surprise Champions League runners-up.

Pirates have drawn Basotho club Lioli in the first round and play the first leg of their first round tie in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Lesotho do not have any stadia which meet the Confederation of African Football’s standards for international competition, so Lioli are hosting Pirates at the Free State Stadium, just as their national team did against South Africa earlier this month.

The clash is on Saturday with a 3pm kick off and the return leg will be at the Orlando Stadium exactly one week later.

Not unexpectedly, South African clubs have a one-sided record against Basotho opposition in African club competition, stretching back over 30 years.

In 20 past matches, there have been 15 wins for South African sides, three draws and two successes for Lesotho teams, both on home soil.

No South African outfit has ever been eliminated on aggregate by a Basotho club, with all 10 previous match-ups coming in the two-legged knockout stages.

Pirates have had four previous outings against Basotho clubs, starting with Roma Rovers in 1997 when they won by a single goal on aggregate and went on to participate in the first ever Champions League group phase.

In 2004 they had a much more convincing 7-0 aggregate triumph over Matlama.

Chiefs are heading to Angola to take on Kabuscorp in their Confederation Cup first round, first leg tie.

That clash on Saturday is at Luanda’s Estadio Novembro 11 with the return leg at Soccer City on 27 September.

Pirates’ second round opponent, should they avoid any upset against Lioli, will be either St Eloi Lupopo from the Democratic Republic of Congo or Al Merrikh of Sudan.

If Chiefs go through to the second round they take on either Djabal of the Comoros Islands or Simba from Kolwezi, who were surprise cup winners in DR Congo last season.

After two rounds of preliminaries, the 16 teams from the group phase of both competitions will be known with matches scheduled to kick off in November.