Without any doubt, there is palpable panic in the land as Nigeria’s trio of Rivers United, Plateau United and Kwara United have been drawn to face clubs from North Africa in the second preliminary round of this year’s CAF inter-club competitions.
Such apprehension is not unfounded because in recent years, Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) , clubs have struggled to find their feet against teams from the northern part of the continent. Therefore, each time a Nigerian club is pitched against a team from North Africa, it is quite easy to predict the winner of such a tie.
It is against this background that Nigerians have continued to express worry that their remaining clubs in the continent in the 2022/2023 season might not survive in the hands of their more organised and experienced opponents.
At the end of the 2021/2022 NPFL season, Rivers United, Plateau United, Remo Stars and Kwara United qualified to represent Nigeria in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup respectively. While Rivers United, Plateau United and Kwara United scaled the first preliminary hurdles to reach the second round, the only privately owned club in the league, Remo Stars, stumbled and fell by the way side.
Although Remo raised so much hope after forcing FAR Rabat of Morocco to a 1-1 draw away, they capitulated to their opponents 0-1 in Ikenne in the return leg to become the first Nigerian side to exit the continent in the 2023 campaign.
On their part, the remaining three Nigerian clubs who are to face uphill tasks against other North African oppositions easily overcame their first preliminary round opponents. While Rivers United made a mince-meat of Liberian side, Watanga FC by winning their match 3-1 on aggregate, Plateau United defeated Stade Mandji of Gabon 3-2 on aggregate just as Kwara United edged out AS Douanes of Niger Republic 3-0 on aggregate.
Although they all progressed, the performances of the Nigerian clubs in the return legs were far from satisfactory because they couldn’t dominate their less endowed opponents away from home. They literally struggled but their saving grace no doubt was the impressive results they had recorded in their home matches.
Well, the clubs now have their work cut out as they must overcome their albatrosses from Northern Africa to reach the group stage of their respective competitions. In potentially tough duels, Rivers United will be up against title holders Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco with the first leg to be held on October 9 at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium in Port-Harcourt. Plateau United have been drawn against another North African giants, Esperance of Tunisia while Kwara United face CAF Confederation and Super Cup holders, RS Berkane of Morocco.
These are no doubt banana peels in the path of the three NPFL clubs because their opponents have pedigrees that can send shivers down the spines of their opponents. While both Wydad Athletic Club and Esperance are among the most successful clubs in Africa with a number of CAF Champions League titles to show, their opponents from Nigeria can’t boast of even a group stage appearance in the competition.
While Wydad Athletic Club founded in 1937 (85 years) have won 22 domestic league titles and three CAF Champions League titles in 1992, 2017 and 2022 when they defeated fellow North Africans, Al Ahly of Egypt 2-0 in the finals, Rivers United formed in 2016 can only boast of few appearances in the competition beginning from 2017, a year after they were merged with Sharks FC.
Plateau United are also going to punch far above their weight as they confront the oldest active club in Tunisia. Esperance which was founded in 1919 (103 years) have won 32 domestic league titles and four CAF Champions League titles in 1994, 2011, 2018 and 2019. But Plateau United as the lightweight in the upcoming contest have made only two appearances in the lucrative league in 2018 and 2021 without progressing beyond the preliminary rounds.
It is also difficult to say how Kwara United who were founded 25 years ago and can boast of only two appearances in the continent in 1997 and 1999 can upset RS Berkane who came into existence 84 years ago and have won two CAF Confederation Cup titles.
The foregoing is not to undermine the abilities of the Nigerian representatives but if available records are anything to go by, then it is quite obvious that the three NPFL clubs must do something extra-ordinary to climb the mountains before them.
It must be stated here that the major undoing of Nigerian clubs in the continent is lack of proper organisation and adequate preparation. At the moment, nobody can say for sure when the 2023 NPFL season will start but the leagues in other countries have since started. This will most certainly enable clubs from such leagues to be better prepared than their counterparts in the NPFL which is usually among the last to commence in Africa.
And talking about lack of adequate preparations, when the reigning NPFL champions, Rivers United were hosted to a dinner by Governor Nyesom Wike, they were promised a playing tour of Spain but that didn’t see the light of the day. In fact, Rivers United couldn’t play a single formidable opponent before going into the Champions League competition. The same thing applied to the other Nigerian clubs in the continent. Therefore, chances are high that they might fail to last the distance when they square up against the more formidable and well organised North African clubs.
In spite of the heavy odds against them, football is not mathematics where one plus one is equal to two. If they will put their houses in order, Rivers United and Plateau United might make history by reaching the group stage of the Champions League for the first time. Kwara United who reached the group stage in their debut appearance in 2007 may also go a step further by reaching the knock out stage in the Confederation Cup.
It is hard to give the NPFL trio a chance against the North Africans but considering the fact that Nigerian clubs are full of surprises, no one should dismiss them with a wave of the hand. After all, their opponents are not invincible. This was proven by Enyimba International of Aba who defeated two North African opponents, Ismaily of Egypt and Etoile Du Sahel of Tunisia en route to winning the 2003 and 2004 CAF Champions League titles.
