Both Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates will be heading to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo in their African club competition second-round tie after the belated completion of first-round fixtures on Saturday.
In what will be a first for both in their long history, they will be heading outside of the country for the first time together, and to the same destination, on the same weekend, playing their first leg ties away at the TP Mazembe Stadium.
In the African Champions League, Pirates will be taking on St Eloi Lupopo after they produced a shock and held the Sudanese Al Merrikh to a goalless draw in the second leg of their first-round scrimmage.
Lupopo had won the first leg in Lubumbashi last weekend and in Saturday’s second leg, played in Libya because of the civil war in Sudan, held out for a narrow aggregate triumph.
Lupopo are the second club in the southern city of Lubumbashi, in the shadow of richer neighbours TP Mazembe.
Chiefs will take on AS Simba in the second round of the Confederation Cup after the Congolese outfit completed a 3-0 aggregate triumph over Djabal of Comoros.
Both legs were played in Lubumbashi because the Comorian club did not have a suitable home ground.
The first leg last weekend was Simba’s home match and they won 1-0 and Djabal ‘hosted’ the second leg on Saturday where Ilunga Nsungu scored a double – with goals either side of halftime – to hand Simba progress.
Simba hail from Kolwezi, some 300km from Lubumbashi, and are competing in continental competition for the first time. Their stadium cannot be used for African club competition matches, so they are playing in Lubumbashi.
They qualified for the Confederation Cup with a 1-0 win over FC MK Etanchéité of Kinshasa in last season’s Coupe du Congo final.
Chiefs will likely play on Sunday, October 19, with Pirates playing on Saturday, October 18.
The return legs are on the weekend of October 24-26.