• Ahly strike early to build two-goal ginal lead • Dynamos crash out of Champions League • Advantage Cotonsport as Dynamos flounder • Mugabe hosts Dynamos at State House • Spy row erupts as Dynamos meet Coton Sport • Davids slay Goliath of African football • Dynamos storm into Champions League semis • Marufu double sinks ASEC, throws Dynamos lifeline • Do-or-die for Dynamos in Abidjan • Desperate Dynamos cling to slim hope • Last gasp goal denies Dynamos point in Cairo • Dynamos fall to Zamalek, stay second • Giant-killing Dynamos claim Asec scalp • Dynamos beat African champions • Dynamos survive Mozambique scare • Dynamos take commanding lead over Sol

Posted to the web 05/12/2008 17:14:41
ZIMBABWE has failed to get two slots for the 2009 CAF-MTN African Champions League despite Dynamos reaching the semi-finals of the last edition.

The draw for the 2009 edition was conducted at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.

Last week, ZIFA chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya wrote to the continental body seeking a second slot, based on Dynamos’ fine run and marketing achievements. But CAF rejected the request.

The 2008 CBZ Premier Soccer League title chase is a two horse race between defending champions Dynamos and surprise league leaders Monomotapa.

The winner of the league will face Miembeni of Tanzania in the first leg of the preliminary rounds in late January and the victor will face South African side Ajax Cape Town.

Asec Mimosas await in the second round.

Asec was one the teams that Dynamos beat on their way to the last four where they fell to Coton Sport of Cameroon.

CBZ FA Cup and Super Eight Cup winners CAPS United have been drawn against Victors FC of Uganda, whom they will play in the first leg of the Confederations Cup on the weekend of 30 January to 2 February.

Highlights:

Champions Al Ahly of Egypt have a first round bye and will face either Young Africans of Tanzania or Etoile d'Or de Mirontsy of the Comoros islands in the second round.

Ahly will also likely face Nigerian champions Kano Pillars in the third round if the Nigerians overcome
Elect Sport of Chad and the winners of the tie between Senegal's AS Douanes and Sierra Leone's domestic champions, who are yet to be decided.

The third round winners go into the group stage of the competition.

Ghana's Asante Kotoko will compete under their new Belgian coach Maurice Cooreman, who led Enyimba of Nigeria to this year's semi-finals. Kotoko have a first-round bye and will meet the winner of the match-up between Wallidan of The Gambia and Moroccan club, Ittihad Zemouri, who will make their bow in the competition.

Kenya's Mathare United will also compete in the Champions League for the first time, and they play the Zambian champions, yet to be decided, in the first round. The winners face Ivory Coast's Africa Sports.

This year's runners-up Coton Sport of Cameroon have a bye to the second round where they face either DC Motema Pembe of DR Congo or Gambia's Mangasport.

The winners of that tie are likely to face Heartland FC of Nigeria or ASFAR of Morocco in the all-important third round.

The other Cameroonian club, three-time African champions Canon Yaounde play Inter Star of Burundi. The victors there will face Primero Agosto of Angola or Renaissance Aiglons of Congo Brazzaville.

Sudan's Al Hilal, the 2007 semi-finalists, may lie in wait for the winners of that second round match-up.

Al Hilal themselves have a bye to the second round, where they face the winners of Academie Ny Antsika of Madagascar and USS Tamponnaise from the Reunion islands.

CLUBS THAT RECEIVED BYES:
JSK (Algeria), Coton Sport (Cameroon), Asec Mimosas (Côte d’Ivoire) Africa Sports (Côte d’Ivoire), Al Ahly (Egypt), Asante Kotoko (Ghana), Ittihad (Libya), TP Mazembe (RD Congo), Ajax Cap Town (South Africa) Al Hilal (Sudan), ESS (Tunisia)
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