Following the conclusion of the 2023/24 CAF Champions League First Round of the Preliminary Round draw in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday, we focus on which teams Ugandan players abroad will come up against.
Uganda Cranes midfielder Taddeo Lwanga, captain Khalid Aucho, defender Gift Fred, and former goalkeeper and skipper Denis Onyango will all be involved at some point during the qualifiers.
Lwanga’s APR who won the 2023/24 Rwanda Premier League were drawn against Tanzanian side Azam FC in the First Round.
The winner after two legs will face the victor between Zanzibar’s JKU SC and Pyramid FC from Egypt in the Second Round of the Preliminaries.
On the other hand, Ligi Kuu Bara champions Young Africans SC where Aucho and Fred ply their trade were paired with Burundian outfit Vital’O FC.
Should Yanga go past Vital’O they will meet the winner between Uganda Premier League champions SC Villa and Ethiopian side Commercial Bank (CBE SA) in the Second Round.
This gives Fred a chance to meet his former paymasters. He was the Jogoos’ captain when they finished third in the UPL during the 2022/23 season before joining Yanga.
Meanwhile, Onyango whose option to extend his contract for a further year has been triggered by Mamelodi Sundowns only pending confirmation will start this season’s Champions League journey in the Second Round.
The Premier Soccer League giants will face the opponent that will progress from the First Round meeting between Mozambican’s Clube Forreoviario Beira and Mbabane Swallows FC from Eswatini.
First leg matches of the First Round will take place between August 16 and 18, 2024, with the second leg between August 23 and 25, 2024.
Uganda’s Villa will be at home first whilst APR and Yanga will start the campaign on the road.
Meanwhile, the Second Round of the Preliminaries will be played between September 13 and 15, 2024 for the first leg and September 20 and 22, 2024 for the return leg.
This is where Onyango and his side Mamelodi who were among the teams exempted from the First Round will come in.
Sundowns will either visit Eswatini or Mozambique for their first game of this year’s event.
Holders Al Ahly of Egypt, Esperance from Tunisia, Atletico Petro de Luanda of Angola, and Democratic Republic of Congo’s TP Mazembe were the other teams exempted from the First Round besides Masandawana.
