Africa: Sudan Leading in Inter-Club Competitions Hot

The recent performance of Sudanese flagship clubs, El Hilal and El Merreikh have been remarkable, permitting the country to present four teams in continental competitions two in the Orange CAF Champions League and two in the Orange CAF Confederation Cup.

They have made a worthy representation with all four teams still in the competitions after the first two rounds. While the presence of the two Omdurman clubs is not a surprise, that of Ahly Shandy and El Amal is.

Ahly Shandy eliminated Ferroviario of Maputo, while El Amal dismissed Hwange of Zimbabwe.

For the first time, the two Sudanese clubs proved tough, but it will be an important test for the future of Sudan that has often relied on the two big Omdurman clubs, whose players almost make up the national team.

In spite of the cancellation of the national championship, Egyptian clubs also sailed through to the next round matches without difficulties.

Al Ahly dismissed Ethiopian Coffee, while Zamalek went and qualified in Abidjan despite losing 2-1 to Africa Sport of Abidjan. ENPPI eliminated Lydia Academic, the Burundian club that was making its continental debut.

Tunisian club, CS Sfaxien was eliminated by AC Leopards of Congo. The biggest surprise was the elimination of the 2007/2008 winner. The Tunisian team had registered a 2-1 away win but was beaten 2-0 at home.

Morocco's emblematic club, Raja of Casablanca failed to make it to the next round after suffering an away 5-0 bashing against Ghanaian club, Berekum Chelsea. Raja won the return match 3-0 but it was an insufficient score to keep them in the competition.

Nigeria's representative, the Dolphins of Port-Harcourt lost out to Coton Sport of Cameroon, thanks to the away goal the team from Garoua scored in Nigeria in the first leg match.

Sunshine Stars will be carrying the hopes of Nigeria in the Champions League having also qualified on an away goal rule after coming back from a 4-1 defeat in Angola to win 3-0 at home and level the scores.

Ivory Coast's representatives, Africa Sports is out of the competition after losing to Zamalek but another Ivorian club, AFAD Djekanou eliminated JSM Bejaia of Algeria after winning both matches in the champions league tie. The Ivorians are an unknown team which not many would have expected to go this far. ASEC Mimosas beat Etoile Filante of Ouagadougou and will now face CODM Meknes.

Algeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Zimbabwe each have only one representative left in champions' league.

ASO Chlef qualified in Kinshasa against AS V.Club, Coton Sport had a more difficult task against the Dolphins, while TP Mazembe's elimination of Power Dynamos of Kitwe showed that Mputu (hat-trick ) and Singuluma (2 goals) are back in fine form and that the Lubumbashi club is a serious contender for the title.

The former champions meet El Merreikh of Sudan in the next round and the two-game encounter promises to produce some fireworks.

Zimbabwe's Dynamos FC remain on course after dismissing Liga Muculmana of Mozambique and now face the defending champion Esperance for a place in the group stage of the competition.

Ghana 's Chelsea Berekum that inflicted a heavy 5-0 score on Raja of Casablanca have earned themselves a clash with Coton Sport in the next round.

South Africa's Black Leopards FC continues its fine run with qualification to the next round of Confederation Cup after eliminating DR Congo's St Eloi Lupopo.

Angola club Interclube fought hard to eliminate the Malagasy team, Tana Formation that was also making its start on the continent. The Angolans reversed a 2-0 deficit before winning on penalties.

Congo's AC Leopards of Dolisie, Royal Leopards of Swaziland as well as Simba SC of Tanzania are still in the Orange Confederation Cup.

Meanwhile, Mali is still awaiting the result of yet to be played matches; Stade Malien -Tonnerre and Djoliba AC-URA. It should be noted that the Ugandan club refused to travel to Mali due to the conflict situation in the country.

In the vent that Stade Malien and Djoliba the teams from Mali qualify that will equal Sudan's performance of having four teams at this stage of both competitions.

On the whole, majority of the big names are still in the Champions League and the next round promises to be open.

It is worth noting that 11 of the 14 teams that qualified for the next round of the Champions League played the return match at home. Meanwhile, 11 out of 16 in the Confederation Cup qualified this way.