CAF confirms Nigeria’s loss spots in club championships

Nigeria has lost their right to enter two clubs into each of the annual African club competitions after years of poor results.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed to the BBC that just one club from Nigeria will enter into the next Champions League and Confederation Cup.

However for the first time in eight years Libya will be able to enter two teams per competition.

The increase comes despite Libya’s domestic league being in turmoil because of the country’s security problems and their clubs being forced to host continental club competition matches at venues outside of the country,

It comes as Nigeria have fallen out of the top 12 of the CAF rankings of club competition results over the last five years while Libya are up to ninth.

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The system is used to determine which countries get an extra side in the two continental club competitions.

Nigerian clubs have struggled in both competitions over the last five years aside from Enyimba who reached the Confederation Cup semi-finals this year.

The points that Enyimba earned could see Nigeria back with two teams for the 2019-2020 editions.

But for the next tournaments, which are set to begin at the end of November, Mozambique will have two sides in each for the first time.

Cameroon are once again allowed two clubs in each event, after they had just one entrant in each of the 2018 editions.

It means Congo, Mali and Nigeria, who had an uninterrupted run of since the double entry was first introduced by CAF in 2004, lose out.

Only Algeria, the DR Congo, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia have consistently kept up the right to two teams.

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For the 2018-19 competitions, the five are joined by Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Libya, Mozambique, South Africa, Sudan and Zambia.

The final of the 2018 Champions League between Egypt’s Al Ahly and Tunisia’s Esperance is set for 2 November with the second leg a week later.

DR Congo’s AS Vita Club take on Morocco’s Raja Casablanca meet over two legs in the final of the Confederation Cup at the end of November.

The 2018-2019 editions of the competitions begin immediately after that final and will be squeezed into just six months to accommodate the switch in timing of the annual continental club tournaments.

The 2018 editions mark the last time the competitions are played inside a calendar year – from next year they will start in August and finish in May the next year.

Latest CAF Five year club rankings (for the 2018-19 editions):

Tunisia
Egypt
DR Congo
Morocco
Algeria
South Africa
Sudan
Zambia
Libya
Ivory Coast
Cameroon