The Ethiopian Premier League (EPL) champions, Mekele 70 Enderta, and Ethiopian Cup title winners, Fasil City, are set to compete in the continental CAF competitions.
Mekele 70 Enderta will face Cano Sports Academy of Equatorial Guinea in the preliminary round of CAF Champions League game while Fasil City will take on Azam of Tanzania in the CAF Confederation Cup. The first leg of the match between Mekele and Cano is set be held in Malabo from August 9-11, 2019 while the second leg will be played two weeks later.
Mekele, promoted to the EPL two seasons ago, has been complaining about the stadium in which they will play their home game at. However, because of the reason of the stadium being not registered by CAF, the home match will be played in Abebe Bikila Stadium. The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF), in light of the newly built stadium in Mekele, has requested CAF to confirm Mekele’s match be played at home. Mekele were crowned EPL champions with 59 points for the first time in their history.
Egyptian Champion Al Ahly will face South Sudan’s Atlabara FC in the first preliminary round and the winner of that match will face the winner between Mekele and Cano Sport in the round of 32.
The 61 teams from 49 associations will participate in the competition with only three teams entering the first round and 58 teams entering the preliminary round.
Elsewhere, after securing the Ethiopian Cup by beating Hawassa City 3-1 on penalties, Fasil City will face Azam FC of Tanzania in the CAF Confederation Cup. Fasil will host Azam on August 9-10 in Bahir Dar international stadium. The winner will take-on Triangle FC of Zimbabwe and Rukinzo of Burundi.
The emperors, although their first time competing in continental competitions, they have a good form coming out of the EPL season finishing third with 57 points.
Azam has qualified to CAF Confederation Cup in 2013 after finishing in second place in 2011-12 Tanzanian Premier League season. Azam has also won the Kagame Interclub Cup 2015 and 2018 competition.
