KCCA among top 5 African teams

KAMPALA. KCCA still have it all to do in the qualifiers of the Caf Confederation Cup after the continental governing body yesterday ranked them fifth among the 32 sides in the first round of qualification.
Sides that win their ties in this first round will play those that fall from the final qualification round of the 23rd Caf Champions League.

Uganda Premier League (UPL) champions Vipers are among the 30 in the Champions League. Should they fail to progress past Algerian champions Constantine, whom they trail 1-0 going into the second leg at home this weekend, there is no regulation barring them from meeting fellow Ugandan side KCCA in the Confederation Cup final qualification round.

Defending champions Esperance de Tunis were exempted from the Champions League qualifiers of this transitional competition as they are involved in the Fifa Club World Cup.

These transitional calendar allows Caf club competitions to switch from a February-to-November schedule to an August–to-May schedule, as per the decision of the Caf executive committee reached last year.

The ongoing competitions ends in May 2019, before the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) – which was also switched from January/February to June/July). The next club season will then start after Afcon and follow the new calendar.

As there are 16 winners of the Confederation Cup first round, but only 15 falling from the Champions League, the winners of the Confederation’s round with the best ranking advance directly to the group stage too. Right now, Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel are ranked top.

Morocco’s Raja Casablanca is third sandwiched between Egyptian sides Zamalek and Al Masry. KCCA follows but can only benefit from these rankings - that are looking inconsequential - if that north African quartet falls.

As it looks only Al Masry are in danger as they travel to Burkina Faso’s Salitas trailing 0-2 from the first round. The top three have commanding leads against Stade d’Abidjan (3-0), Petro de Luanda (7-0) and CotonTchad (5-0) respectively.
The 15 winners of the first round advance to the group stage to join the title holders Espérance de Tunis, while the 15 losers of the first round enter the Confederation Cup play-off round.