UNITED TO FACE ROYAL OR HIGHLANDERS IN CAF CC

2016 CAF Champions League semi-finalists, ZESCO United will face either Royal AM FC of South Africa or Mbabane Highlanders FC of Eswatini in this year’s CAF Confederations Cup.

The nine-times Zambian league champions begin their journey in the CAF Confederation Cup in the second preliminary round of the competition after being seeded among the fourteen exempted teams from the first preliminary round of matches.

ZESCO United will have to wait a little longer to know their opponents with the first leg of matches staged between September 9-11 while the second leg matches will take place between 16-18 September.

TeamYaziko will officially join the competition with an away second preliminary round fixture against the winners between Highlanders and Royal AM FC to be staged between October 07-09 while the second leg will be held between October 14-16.

This is according to official draws conducted yesterday by the Confederations of African Football (CAF) in Arusha, Tanzania.

Meanwhile ZESCO United Head Coach Mumamba Numba has welcomed the draws.

“We are very happy to know who we are going to be meeting. This gives us enough time to monitor both teams in terms of how they play before we face either of the two.

“We need to take a serious approach towards these matches especially that we failed to perform well last season. We need to make amends for last seasons failure by atleast qualifying to the Group stage of the competition. That is our primary target,” he said.

ZESCO United have intensified their preparations for both the CAF Confederation Cup and the 2022/23 Zambian Super League season securing an international friendly match against Azam of Tanzania scheduled for Sunday next week.

Author: Desmond Katongo