Rivers United face stiff CAFCL group stage, drawn against defending champions
By Edward E C
Nigeria’s sole representative in CAF Club Competitions,Rivers United will face stiff North African competition.
The Pride of Rivers are grouped alongside CAFCL defending champions Pyramids of Egypt and CAF Confederation Cup holders RS Berkane of Morocco.
The draws which took place on Monday in Johannesburg, attracted some notable African players like Alex Song,Thomas Mlambo and Christopher Katongo was held at the Supersport Studios, Johannesburg,South Africa.
Pyramids FC and RS Berkane – the reigning CAF club competition title holders – have been pooled together following the group stage draw for the 2025-26 CAF Champions League, conducted in Johannesburg on Monday afternoon.
Pyramids (Champions League winners last season) and RS Berkane (three-time and reigning Confederation Cup champions) met just over two weeks ago in the CAF Super Cup match in Cairo, with the former team triumphing 1-0 thanks to Fiston Mayele’s late strike. Now they will battle twice more in Group A of the Champions League over the coming months, alongside Nigeria’s Rivers United and Power Dynamos of Zambia.
Group B is headlined by 12-time CAFCL winners Al Ahly of Egypt, who have been drawn alongside fellow North African clubs AS FAR (Morocco) and JS Kabylie (Algeria), as well as ambitious Tanzanian team Young Africans.
Group C features 2016 CAFCL champs and last season’s runners-up, Mamelodi Sundowns. The South African powerhouse club will battle Sudan’s Al Hilal, MC Alger of Algeria and St Eloi Lupopo of the DR Congo.
Finally, Group D sees four-time champions Esperance de Tunis tackle Tanzania’s Simba SC, Petro de Luanda of Angola and Mali’s Stade Malien.
The group stage of the CAF Champions League will get underway on the weekend of 21-23 November.
CAF Champions League group stage draw
Group A
– RS Berkane (Morocco)
– Pyramids FC (Egypt)
– Rivers United (Nigeria)
– Power Dynamos (Zambia)
Group B
– Al Ahly (Egypt)
– Young Africans (Tanzania)
– AS FAR (Morocco)
– JS Kabylie (Algeria)
Group C
– Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa)
– Al Hilal (Sudan)
– MC Alger (Algeria)
– St Eloi Lupopo (DR Congo)
Group D
– Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia)
– Simba SC (Tanzania)
– Petro de Luanda (Angola)
– Stade Malien (Mali).
Eagle Eye Sports 24 reports that Rivers United’s qualification came after nine years of failure to qualify for the group stages by Nigerian clubs.
Recall that Enyimba FC Aba are the only Nigerian clubside to have won the CAF Champions League.
The People’s Elephant won it back to back in 2003 and 2004.
