Orlando Pirates depart South African shores for the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead of their CAF Champions League Second Preliminary Round encounter against Saint-Éloi Lupopo in Lumumbashi on Sunday.
It’s the first of two legs in this crucial qualification round with a spot in the group stage of the prestigious competition up for grabs. The fixture pits the 1995 champions against the Congolese outfit, whose history in the top echelons of African club competition dates back to its initial years.
Hosted at the Stade Frederic Kibasa Maliba, the all-important fixture is a significant step up in competition for the Buccaneers who coasted to a 7-0 aggregate win against Lesotho’s Lioli in the previous round. With both legs of their tie against Tse Nala contested within South Africa’s borders, Abdeslam Ouaddou’s troops now step out of familiar territory for the first time this season as they make the trip to West Africa.
A hostile reception from the stands is almost guaranteed throughout the 90 minutes,
The start of the 2025/26 edition of the Champions League coincides with the latter part of the off-season in the DRC, but the team affectionately known as Les Cheminots (The Railmen) have had the opportunity to dust off the cobwebs in their intensely-contested two-legged tie against the Sudanese outfit. They spent most of their home leg with a one-man advantage after their opponents were reduced to 10 men in the 28th minute, but only made their numerical superiority count with only six minutes left on the clock when defender Mokonzi Katumbwe provided the winner.
That strike from the 25-year-old proved to be the decisive blow, with no further goals emerging from the rest of the tie as the West Africans held on for a goalless draw in the decisive second leg in Benghazi.
The result of the latter fixture sealed their spot in the second round and was their fourth stalemate in their five most recent fixtures, following a run of three consecutive draws that saw them miss out on league glory by a whisker in the previous season.
Similar outcomes have followed them into their pre-season friendlies played over the past week, where they played to another goalless draw against local rivals JS Bazano before producing an identical result against AS Simba.
