The opening round will set the tone before the competition pauses for AFCON in December and January.<\/p>\n
Pyramids v Rivers United headlines Group A in Cairo. Krunoslav Jur\u010di\u0107\u2019s side arrive buoyed by a Super Cup win and a rising spine built around goalkeeper Ahmed El-Shenawy, Walid El Karti and striker Fiston Mayele.<\/p>\n
They will be without Ramadan Sobhi, Osama Galal and Mostafa Fathi, but expectations remain high after last season\u2019s title. Rivers travel with defensive resilience and revived attacking confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m quite happy that we have scored two; maybe by the next game we can score three\u2026 Let\u2019s take it one game at a time. We just have to enjoy this now and focus on Pyramids,\u201d said coach Finidi George after a morale-boosting league win.<\/p>\n
In the group\u2019s other fixture, RS Berkane \u2014 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup kings turned Botola champions \u2014 host Zambia\u2019s Power Dynamos in a Group A reunion that will also revive their rivalry with Pyramids later in the round-robin.<\/p>\n
Group B looks the toughest on paper. Record 12-time winners Al Ahly open at home to JS Kabylie in Cairo.<\/p>\n
Jess Thorup\u2019s Ahly, fresh from winning the Egyptian Super Cup, lean on star arrivals such as Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and the experience of Ashraf Bencharki and Taher Mohamed. Fitness doubts linger over Ahmed \u201cZizo\u201d Mostafa and Mahmoud \u201cTrezeguet\u201d Hassan, while Hussein El-Shahat and Achraf Dari remain sidelined.<\/p>\n
Josef Zinnbauer\u2019s JSK travel with attacking threat through Aymen Mahious and Zinedine Bela\u00efd.<\/p>\n
The section\u2019s other match sends AS FAR to Dar es Salaam to face Young Africans \u2014 a meeting of recent continental finalists and quarter-finalists. Under Pedro Gon\u00e7alves, Yanga\u2019s intensity makes this a genuine 50\u201350 contest.<\/p>\n
There is subplot galore in Group C. Al-Hilal (based in Kigali) meet MC Alger in a coaching storyline rich with intrigue: Rulani Mokwena, once the face of Sundowns\u2019 rise, now leads league-topping MCA and seeks a statement result against fellow North African heavyweights.<\/p>\n
Hilal counter with veteran forward Mohamed Abdelrahman and Mauritania international Guessouma Fofana.<\/p>\n
On Saturday in Pretoria, Sundowns begin against St \u00c9loi Lupopo, the Congolese side that stunned Orlando Pirates in qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a clear focus on winning competitions\u2026 we\u2019ll be loyal to ourselves\u2026 the next match is the most important match of our lives,\u201d said Downs boss Miguel Cardoso, brushing aside talk of \u201cobsession\u201d while embracing the pressure to finally add a second star.<\/p>\n
Group D opens with continental pedigree. Four-time champions Esp\u00e9rance host Stade Malien in Tunis.<\/p>\n
EST absorb a major blow with Youcef Bela\u00efli\u2019s ACL injury but retain quality through Houssem Tka, Mohamed Amine Ben Hamida and Algerian livewire Wassila Boualia, while veteran Youcef Msakni is drafted back to steady the front line.<\/p>\n
In the group\u2019s parallel fixture, Simba welcome Petro de Luanda in a high-tempo contest between two sides whose ambitions stretch well beyond the group phase.<\/p>\n
–CAF\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15809,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-15808","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Africa\u2019s blue-riband club competition returns this weekend with a blockbuster Matchday 1: holders Pyramids host Rivers United, Al Ahly welcome JS Kabylie, Mamelodi Sundowns meet giant-killers St \u00c9loi Lupopo, while Al-Hilal face MC Alger and Esp\u00e9rance open against Stade Malien.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Africa\u2019s blue-riband club competition returns this weekend with a blockbuster Matchday 1: holders Pyramids host Rivers United, Al Ahly welcome JS Kabylie, Mamelodi Sundowns meet giant-killers St \u00c9loi Lupopo, while Al-Hilal face MC Alger and Esp\u00e9rance open against Stade Malien.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19889,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15808\/revisions\/19889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}