African Club Cups 2020: semi-finals to end it all

The Rabat Stadium.

Wikimedia Commons / KSKB1935

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

3 min

The semi-finals first leg of the Champions League on October 17 and 18, then the Confederation Cup on October 19 and 20, are supposed to launch the 2019-2020 African club cups towards their denouement, after seven month of downtime linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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In a normal world, the 2020-2021 African Club Cups would already be in full swing in mid-October.

But in the current context, marked by the global Covid-19 pandemic, the 2019-2020 edition is still not over during this period and the next one will therefore begin on November 27.

Two years ago, the Champions League (C1) and the Confederation Cup (C2) started in February and ended around November-December.

Since the 2018-2019 financial year, the African C1 and C2 have been more or less on the same schedule as in Europe (start in August and end in May).

The coronavirus has, however, been there and the continent's two club competitions were interrupted for seven months.

After several postponements, the African Football Confederation (CAF) will try to put an end to it in two countries: Egypt and especially Morocco.

Dream posters in the Champions League

The semi-finals of the Champions League, Al Ahly (Egypt) - Wydad Casablanca (Morocco) and Zamalek (Egypt) - Raja Casablanca (Morocco), respectively scheduled for October 17 and 18 in Casablanca, are dream posters.

The return matches will be held on October 23 (Ahly-WAC) and October 24 (Zamalek-Raja) in Cairo or near Alexandria

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The final will be played on November 6 in Egypt in the event of a Cairo derby or if the meeting opposes an Egyptian formation to a Moroccan formation.

However, it will be held in Morocco in the event of a duel between the two rival teams from Casablanca.

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Morocco, on the other hand, will undoubtedly be the scene of the Confederation Cup final, scheduled for October 25 in Rabat.

A city also supposed to host the semi-final of October 19 between the Sports Renaissance of Berkane (Morocco) and Hassania Agadir (Morocco).

The other meeting, between Pyramids FC (Egypt) and Horoya AC (Guinea), is scheduled in Casablanca.

This C2 “final oven” promises to be much more open.

Apart from Horoya, winner in 1978 of the late African Cup Winners' Cup, no member of this last four has ever won a continental trophy.

In 2019, Berkane was beaten in the Confederation Cup final by Zamalek.

[1] The Egyptian authorities have yet to decide whether these high-stakes meetings can take place in Cairo or whether they should be relocated to Borg El Arab to prevent possible overflows.

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