Sundowns to host both legs of Champions League tie

Mamelodi Sundowns will host both legs of their African Champions League second round tie against La Passe of the Seychelles at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, strengthening their runaway chances of advancing to the group phase of the continent’s top club competition for an eighth successive campaign.

There is no suitable stadium on the Indian Ocean island, where renovations are still to be completed, and ‘home’ matches for Seychelles teams in continental competition over recent months have been hosted in nearby Mauritius.

Sundowns have persuaded La Passe to move their home tie to South Africa and therefore the Seychelles side ‘host’ the first leg at Loftus on Sunday. The return game is again at Loftus on Friday, 14 October.

Sundowns are runaway favourites for the tie with the aggregate winner taking a place in their 16-team group phase, which gets under way in February.

Sundowns set a record for a South African club in African club competition with their 11-1 home win over another Seychelles club, Cote d’Or, three years ago in the early rounds of the Champions League, when Sibusiso Vilakazi got a hat-trick and there were seven other scorers. They won 16-1 on aggregate.