Football: Caf clubs competitions draw |29 December 2016

Côte d’Or, St Michel know opponents

First division league champions Côte d’Or and cup winners St Michel already know their opponents for next year’s Confederation of African Football club competitions.

Praslin side Côte d’Or will meet St George (AKA Kedus Giorgis) of Ethiopia in the Caf Champions League, while St Michel will clash with Al-Hilal from Sudan in the Caf Confederation Cup in the preliminary rounds.

Côte d’Or will host the first leg between the weekend of February 10-12, 2017 and the return clash with the Horsemen of Ethiopia is the following week – February 17-19.

In the event Côte d’Or win the preliminary round on aggregate score they will play either AC Léopards of the Republic of the Congo or UMS de Loum of Cameroon in the first round.

The 16 winners of the first round advance to the group stage, while the 16 losers of the first round enter the Confederation Cup play-off round.

This will be Côte d’Or’s second appearance in the Caf Champions League after losing 2-7 on aggregate score in the preliminary round against Angolan champions Kabuscorp do Palanca in 2014. The Praslinois lost the away fixture played at the Coqueiros Stadium, in Luanda, Angola on a 1-5 score and were edged 1-2 at Stad Linite in the return match.

The 2017 Caf Champions League (officially the 2017 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) is the 53rd Africa's premier club football tournament organised by Caf and the 21st under the current Caf Champions League format.

In the group stage, the 16 teams will be drawn into four groups of four. Each group will be played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the quarterfinals.

In the knockout stage, the eight teams will play a single-elimination tournament. Ties will be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, the away goals rule will be applied, and if still level, the penalty shootout will be used to determine the winners. No extra-time will be played.

In the quarterfinals, the winners of one group will play the runners-up of another group, with the group winners hosting the second leg.

In fact, St George played here last year against St Michel in the Caf Champions League and won 4-1 on aggregate. St Michel came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against the Ethiopian champions at Stad Linite in the preliminary round second leg match but still bowed out of the Caf Champions League after losing the away fixture 0-3. Their continental journey ended at the hands of African champions TP Mazembe of Congo DR. After a cracking 2-2 home draw in the first leg, they lost 0-1 away from home.

As for seasoned African campaigners St Michel, they will travel to Sudan to play Al-Hilal during the weekend of February 10-12, 2017 before hosting the Sudanese cup winners the following week – February 17-19.

A win on aggregate score for St Michel will see them play SM Sanga Balende of Angola in the first round.

Then the 16 winners of the first round will advance to the play-off round, where they will be joined by the 16 losers of the Champions League first round. The 16 winners of the play-off round will then advance to the group stage.

The first-round ties will be on the weekends of March 10-12 and the return matches between March 17-19.

As for the group stages, they will begin on May 12-14 and end on July 7-9, while the quarterfinals will be played in September.

The two Seychelles teams are not training on a full-time basis of late as the season is over.

According to coaches Ralph Jean-Louis (Côte d’Or) and Roddy Victor (St Michel), training will resume early January and they hope to play some friendly matches to be ready for their African club matches.

G. G.