Advertisement

Stellenbosch take last spot in next season’s African club competition

rugby25 May 2025 08:11| © Mzansi Football
Share

Stellenbosch grabbed the last available place in African club competition as the Betway Premiership came to a conclusion, barring two outstanding fixtures, after Saturday’s final matchday.

The lineup of South African representatives for next season’s two African club competitions was finalised when Stellenbosch finished the Betway Premiership in third place, two points ahead of Sekhukhune United, to grab a slot in the Caf Confederation Cup for a second successive season.

Stellenbosch were one point behind the Polokwane-based side going into the penultimate round of matches on 17 May, but a home win over SuperSport United, combined with a 1-1 draw for Sekhukhune at home to Kaizer Chiefs, saw their positions flip, with the club from the Winelands taking a one-point lead over Sekhukhune into Saturday’s final round of matches.

Stellenbosch’s lead was never under serious threat as Sekhukhune struggled away against Lamontville Golden Arrows, going behind early and having Shaun Mogaila sent off before halftime.

Although they did fight back, Arrows won 3-2 while Stellenbosch drew 0-0 with Cape Town City in their derby to end on a final tally of 48 points to Sekhukhune's 46.

That means that South Africa will send back to the continental club competitions three of the four teams that participated last year.

Champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates will again take part in the Champions League together. It will be the third successive season the pair go into the continent’s top club competition, with Sundowns reaching this year’s final and Pirates getting to the semifinals.

If Sundowns win this season’s Champions League over Pyramids of Egypt in Sunday’s second leg of the final in Cairo, South Africa do not get another place in the competition. Confederation of African Football rules allow a maximum of only two entries per country in each of the two annual club competitions.

Sundowns have qualified for the Champions League for a 12th successive edition, while Pirates will play in their third in a row and 13th overall.

The pair are the only South African clubs to have won the competition.

There has never been a South African winner, however, of the Confederation Cup, where Stellenbosch will be joined by Nedbank Cup winners Chiefs.

Chiefs compete in African competition for the first time since they reached the Champions League final in 2021.

EARLIER KICK-OFF DUE TO AFCON

The date for the draw for the preliminary knockout rounds of the 2025-26 African club competitions has not yet been announced, but both the Champions League and the Confederation Cup kick off earlier than last season, because of the space taken up in the calendar by the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco in December.

Depending on the number of entries that are received in both the Champions League and the Confederation Cup, it is likely that Sundowns, Pirates and Stellenbosch will receive a bye in the first round and will compete in only one knockout round to qualify for the group phase.

But because Chiefs have not participated in continental competition for the last four seasons, they will likely be required to start in the first round.

First-round matches have been set down for the weekends of 8-10 August and 15-17 August.

The two legs of the second-round matches will be played on the weekends of 19-21 September and 26-28 September.

After the opening two knockout rounds, the 16 remaining teams are then drawn into groups for the league phase in both the Champions League and the Confederation Cup.

This season it kicked off in November and was completed in January, but next season all group matches will be done before the Cup of Nations kicks off in late December.

The group dates are all jammed together on 24-26 October; 31 October, 1-2 November; 7-9 November; 21-23 November; 28-30 November and 5-7 December.

Advertisement