MONROVIA, Montserrado – Liberia Football Association first division champions Barrack Young Controller and Knock-Out Cup champions Monrovia Club Breweries found out whom they will face in preliminary rounds of the 2017 CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup.
BYC will represent Liberia in the CAF Champions league, while Club Breweries will participate in Africa’s second tier club competition, the CAF Confederation Cup.
BYC will face off against Stade Malien de Bamako of the Malian Premiere Division while Club Breweries will go against Algerian League’s Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie.
For BYC, the CAF Champions League is familiar territory, as they have participated twice before, producing some shocking results. The “Go Blue Boys†made their debut in the competition back in 2014 when they secured a huge upset victory to eliminate one of Africa’s top clubs, Asante Kotoko of the Ghanaian top league. Despite losing the first leg 2-1 in Ghana, BYC reached the first qualifying round after a surprising 1-0 win at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium before being knocked out by Ivorian League One club Sewe Sports.
Unlike their debut season, BYC’s second appearance was quite disappointing. They opened with a loss to Real de Bajul of the Gambian Premier League. After playing to a draw in the first leg, the suffered a 1-0 defeat in the second leg and bowed out of the tournament on a 2-1 aggregate.
Meanwhile, Club Breweries are set to make their first ever appearance in a CAF competition. The Beer Boys had a remarkable 2016 campaign, winning three major trophies. They began with a promotion from the LFA second division to the first division after finishing on top of the second division long before defeating Mighty Barrolle 1-0 in the final of the LFA Knock-out cup competition. They grabbed their third trophy with a penalty shootout win over BYC in the 2016 LFA Super Cup.
Club Breweries; Photo: T. Kla Wesley Jr
While Club Breweries has enjoyed a historically successful season, they will have a major test when they meet Kabylie in the CAF Confederation Cup. Having won seven major continental titles, the Algerian club is referred to as one of the best teams in Africa. They won the CAF Champions League twice, the CAF Cup Winner’s Cup once and three CAF Cups.
The first leg of both competitions is being scheduled for the 10th-12th of February 2017 while the return leg will be in two weeks.
Featured photo by T. Kla Wesley, Jr.
