THE group phase of Africa’s elite club competition the CAF Champions League resumes this weekend with Nigeria’s Rivers United facing holders Pyramids of Egypt in a tricky clash.
Twelve-time winners Al Ahly will welcome Algeria’s JS Kabylie, last season’s runners-up Mamelodi Sundowns meet giant-killers St Éloi Lupopo, while Espérance kick it off against Stade Malien.
The opening round will set the tone before the competition goes on break for the Africa Cup of Nations in December/January.
Pyramids against Rivers United headlines Group A in Cairo.
Krunoslav Jurčić’s Pyramids arrive buoyed by a Super Cup win and a rising spine built around goalkeeper Ahmed El-Shenawy, Walid El Karti and Democratic Republic of Congo striker Fiston Mayele.
They will be without Ramadan Sobhi, Osama Galal and Mostafa Fathi, but expectation remains high after last season’s title.
Rivers United make the trip from Port Harcourt with defensive solidity and renewed attacking intent.
“I’m quite happy that we have scored two; maybe by the next game, we can score three… Let’s take it one game at a time. We just have to enjoy this now and focus on Pyramids,” Rivers United head coach Finidi George said after a morale-lifting Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) win.
In the group’s other tie, RS Berkane — TCAF Confederation Cup kings turned Moroccan league champions— host Zambia’s Power Dynamos in a reunion pool that also revives their fresh rivalry with Pyramids later in the round-robin.
Group B looks the toughest on paper.
The most successful club in the competition’s history Al Ahly open at home to JS Kabylie in Cairo.
Jess Thorup’s Ahly, recent Egyptian Super Cup winners, lean on star arrivals like Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and the experience of Ashraf Bencharki and Taher Mohamed, though fitness clouds hover over Ahmed “Zizo” Mostafa and Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan, with Hussein El-Shahat and Achraf Dari sidelined.
Josef Zinnbauer’s JSK travel with menace through Aymen Mahious and Zinedine Belaïd.
The section’s other duel sends AS FAR to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to face Young Africans in a meeting of recent continental finalists and quarter-finalists; Yanga’s intensity under Pedro Gonçalves makes this a genuine 50–50.