Mzansi flag flying high in African club competition

A full house of four South African sides will compete in the second round of African club competition next month after success at the weekend for Durban City and Orlando Pirates.

The October matches are the last in the early knockout rounds and will determine which teams go through to the lucrative group phase, which kicks off in November.

In the African Champions League, holders Mamelodi Sundowns received a bye into the second round and had to wait until this weekend to discover who their opponents are, which was also the case with Kaizer Chiefs in the African Confederation Cup.

But Pirates had to get past La Cure Waves of Mauritius, doing so in unimpressive style on Saturday, while Durban City won in Burundi on Sunday to also progress 3-1 on aggregate.

Sundowns will take on Angola’s Wiliete, who came through an easy tie against Foresters of the Seychelles 5-0 on aggregate.

Both ties were played in Lubango, because Foresters do not have a home ground that is approved by the Confederation of African Football and so ceded home advantage in the second leg.

Wiliete are based in Benguela but have to play 350km south in Lubango because their home ground is also not approved. The first leg of their second round tie against Sundowns will be in Lubango on the weekend of 16-18 October.

Striker Mabululu scored three of the five goals against Foresters. The Angolan club is coached by Beto Bianchi, a Brazilian who is a former Angola national coach and has been up against South African clubs previously when he was in charge of Petro Atlético.

Pirates were expected to face Mangasport of Gabon in the second round, but they were upset by African Stars of Namibia, who will now take on the Buccaneers after advancing on the away goals rule.

Mangasport beat Stars 3-1 in the first leg of their first round tie in Franceville, but Stars won the return game 2-0 on Saturday in Atteridgeville, where they had to host the game because of Namibia’s lack of adequate stadia.

Stars will host Pirates in the first leg of the second round tie on the weekend of October 16-18, presumably again in Pretoria, in a major blow to Namibian fans who would have flocked to watch Pirates at Windhoek.

Stars have two South Africans in their side, and it was Liam April, who last season helped Hope FC win promotion to the Motsepe Foundation Championship, who scored the second goal in the second leg upset.

The club is coached by Ronnie Kanalelo, who was a goalkeeper at Mamelodi Sundowns, and has at centre back Lyema Dopolo, who was at SuperSport United where made three appearance in the 2023-24 season.

Chiefs will be up against Red Arrows of Zambia, with the first leg away in Ndola and the return at Soccer City on the weekend of 23-25 October.

Red Arrows are the Zambian air force club and are based in Lusaka but must travel some 330km to Ndola, which is the only available stadium in Zambia that has been passed for international matches by CAF.

Arrows overcame FC Rouge of Madagascar 4-0 on aggregate in the first round with a 2-0 home win and then travelled to Mauritius to win 2-0 in the away leg with Ackim Mumba scoring both goals.

Durban City, making their debut in continental club competition, had a tentative start in the first leg against Rukinzo at the Moses Mabhida Stadium and won only 1-0 thanks to an own goal.

But in Sunday’s return leg in Burundi, they scored in the opening minute through Kyle Jurgens and added a second before halftime from Samkelo Maseko before conceding late in the game and advancing without any major hiccups.

City now take on AS Port Louis 2000 after the Mauritius club pulled off a shock win over Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana.

The islanders were held 1-1 at home in the first leg of their first-round tie but then on Saturday snatched a 1-0 win in Gaborone with a goal from captain Kewell Leclerc.

It was a rare away win for a club from Mauritius in continental competition, and the Port players got a rousing reception at the airport when they returned home on Sunday.

They were seventh in the 2025-26 championship but qualified for the Confederation Cup by winning the

“We have a young and highly motivated team that wants to experience African competition,” said their coach Clarel Beeharry.