Times Of Swaziland: REAL TEST FOR ‘INGWE’ IN E5M CARROT BATTLE!

REAL TEST FOR ‘INGWE’ IN E5M CARROT BATTLE!
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Ntokozo Magongo on 19/10/2022 07:15:00


MBABANE – It is a tricky draw for Royal Leopard in the CAF Confederation
play-off, as they face Mali’s AS Real de Bamako.
The winner between the two sides will be guaranteed a place in the group stages
of the TOTALEnergies CAF Confederation Cup, where the participation fee stands
at about E5 million. The police side was dropped from the CAF Champions League
in the second round of the preliminaries after losing 3-2 on aggregate against
Cameroonian side Coton Sport. The trip will come at a cost for Royal Leopard as
they will have to travel to West Africa, where Mali is based. Mali is the eighth
biggest country in the continent. Leopard will be first to host the visitors on
November 2, 2022, with the second leg a week later away. Leopard are part of the
16 teams that join the additional preliminary round/play-off in the CAF
Confederation Cup after losing in the second round of the CAF Champions League
preliminaries.
Leopard avoided all the three South African teams that are in the tournament.
They included Royal AM that eliminated Mbabane Highlanders in the CAF
Confederation Cup first round of the preliminaries, Marumo Gallants and Cape
Town City. AS Real Bamako reached this stage having won both their last two
round of the preliminaries. They first eliminated AS Douanes and Hearts of Oak.
AS Real Bamako will be making their third appearance in the CAF Confederations
Cup having played in the tournament in 2011, 2012 and 2014, where they were most
successful by reaching the group stages but failing to be in the knockout stage.
They have appeared most in the bigger tournament, the CAF Champions League where
they had appeared 10 times. They have only reached the quarterfinals in 1982
while in 2017 and 2018, they were eliminated in the preliminary round.
Meanwhile, Leopard have also made most of their appearances in the Champions
League, while this is their fourth appearance in the Confederation Cup.