Nigeria will have no team in the CAF Champions League next season following the elimination of Enyimba and Remo Stars in the first preliminary round of the competition on Sunday.
Despite having the advantage of playing their return legs at home, both clubs who placed first and second respectively in the Nigeria Professional Football League last season couldn’t make their home advantage count as Enyimba crashed out against Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya while Remo Stars were eliminated by Medeama Sports Club of Ghana.
NPFL champions, Enyimba, played out a goalless draw in their tie against Al-Ahly Benghazi in Aba, failing to overturn the 4-3 loss they suffered in the first leg.
Murphy Ndukwu, Joseph Atule, Chijioke Mbaoma and George Owen all went close for the People’s Elephant but the nine-time NPFL champions found it difficult to break their visitors who advanced to the next round 4-3 on aggregate.
In Ikenne, Remo Stars were dumped out by Ghana Premier League champions, Medeama Sports Club 3-2 on penalties.
After toiling for most part of the game and also hitting the post, Daniel Ogunmodede’s side found the breakthrough from a miscalculated corner kick in the second half as they went up 1-0 to level the scores 1-1 on aggregate.
Remo also had the ball in the net for what they thought was a stoppage time winner, but the flag went up against them.
At the end of 90 minutes, the game went straight into penalty shootouts and Medeama goalkeeper, Felix Kyei, stopped three consecutive spot kicks from Olamilekan Adebayo, Okon Aniekeme and Samuel Anaekwe in the shootout to condemn Remo to a 3-2 defeat.
With the new regulation of CAF, teams eliminated from the Champions League will not be drawn into the Confederation Cup as it was previously, meaning Enyimba and Remo Stars are out of the continent.
Their elimination leaves FA Cup champions Bendel Insurance and Rivers United as the remaining Nigerian teams on the continent as both clubs will hope to make it into the group stage of the Confederation Cup.
Following their spirited win over ASO Chlef of Algeria, Bendel Insurance have been drawn against Morocco’s RS Berkane in the second preliminary round, while Rivers United will meet Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso in the next round.
The first leg of the second round games will be played on September 15, 16 and 17 while the return leg will follow on September 29, 30 and October 1.
