{"id":4086,"date":"2024-05-19T15:50:14","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T14:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=4086"},"modified":"2024-05-19T16:56:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T15:56:40","slug":"historic-caf-confederation-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2024\/05\/19\/historic-caf-confederation-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic CAF Confederation Cup<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 18th<\/sup> 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Early Years<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tournament was established in 2004 by the merger of the CAF Cup and Africa\u2019s Cup Winners Cup. Accra\u2019s Hearts of Oak was the inaugural Confederation Cup champion after defeating local rivals Asante Kotoko 8-7 on penalties after two 1-1 draws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunisia\u2019s (Club Sportif) CS Sfaxien became the competition\u2019s most successful team with three wins (2007, 2008 and the record-extending third triumph in 2013. In 2007 and 2013 they won on aggregate, 5-2 against Al-Merreikh, and 3-2 over the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s TP (Tout Puissant) Mazembe respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CS Sfaxien also made Confederation Cup history in 2008 when they became the first club to retain the title against compatriots \u00c9toile Sportive (ES) du Sahel on away goals (2-2). They are the second Tunisian club to win the Confederation Cup, following ES du Sahel who defeated the defending champions, Association Sportive des Forces Arm\u00e9es Royales (ASFAR) of Rabat on away goals (1-1) in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASFAR was Morocco\u2019s first Confederation Cup winners after beating Nigeria\u2019s Dolphin FC 3-1 on aggregate. Raja Casablanca was the first Moroccan team to win the competition twice \u2013 2018, 4-3 against the DRC\u2019s (Association Sportive) AS Vita Club and 2021, 2-1 in a one-leg final at Stade de l\u2019Amiti\u00e9 in Cotonou, B\u00e9nin, against Algeria\u2019s (Jeunesse Sportive) JS de Kabylie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2019-2020 final was the last two-legged final before the change in format which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic. Zamalek became Egypt\u2019s first and, so far, only Confederation Cup champions after beating RS Berkane 5-3 on penalties after they drew 1-1 on aggregate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RS Berkane made up for the disappointment the following year, beating Egypt\u2019s Pyramids 1-0 in October 2020 at Rabat\u2019s Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium (the home ground of Morocco\u2019s first Confederation Cup champions. This was during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berkane regained the trophy in 2022, beating South Africa\u2019s Orlando Pirates 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes at Nigeria\u2019s Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year the format the final returned to two legs. Union Sportive de la M\u00e9dine Alger, usually known as USM Alger or USMA became the first Algerian winners of the Confederation Cup after beating Tanzania\u2019s Young Africans (Sports Club) SC, better known as Yanga, on away goals after a 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berkane is seeking a record-equalling third Confederation Cup title, although the way they qualified for the final has left a bitter taste for Algerians, especially USM Alger, who were eliminated 6-0 without a ball being kicked after a diplomatic row over the Western Sahara.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 18th 2024) The Early Years The tournament was established in 2004 by the merger of the CAF Cup and [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[767,763,745,764,769,765,766,762,710,714,741,315],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4087,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086\/revisions\/4087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}