Rayon Sports FC advanced to the second preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup after a goalless draw away to Cameroon’s Panthère Sportive du Ndé. The result left the tie level at 1-1 on aggregate, but the local Blue’s progressed on the away-goals rule after securing a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg.
Neither team could find a breakthrough in a tense second leg, but it was enough for Rayon to book their place in the next round of Africa’s second-tier club competition. Attention now turns to the draw for the second preliminary round.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s Al-Hilal completed their own progression in the CAF Champions League, beating Burundi’s Aigle Noir 1-0 in Saturday’s second leg at their temporary home venue in Kigali to seal a 3-1 aggregate win. The result gave Al-Hilal a perfect six points from the tie, having already won the first leg 2-1 in Bujumbura the previous weekend through goals from Yasser Gobak and Ahmed Salem.
Aigle Noir, needing a big away performance to overturn the deficit, could not find a way past the Sudanese champions, last season’s CAF Champions League quarter-finalists.
Also advancing over the weekend were fellow Sudanese side Al-Merrikh, who beat Zambia’s Power Dynamos 1-0 away in Kitwe to complete a 2-0 aggregate win. Feno Hasin scored the only goal of the second leg after a goalless first half; the first leg, played at Al-Merrikh’s temporary Kigali base, had been settled by a 35th-minute penalty from Aboubakar Bachir Bangoura.
Power Dynamos, who reached the group stage of last season’s competition, could not break down an Al-Merrikh defence that did not concede across either leg.
Al-Hilal and Al-Merrikh now advance to the CAF Champions League’s second preliminary round, with first legs scheduled for 16-18 October and return legs for 23-25 October:
Al-Hilal will face the winner of Chad’s Aiglons FC N’Djamena and Ethiopia’s Sidaama Buna.
Al-Merrikh will face the winner of Algeria’s JS Saoura and Guinea’s Horoya.
Both Sudanese sides continue to play their continental fixtures out of Kigali, a consequence of the conflict in Sudan that has displaced much of the country’s top-flight football since 2023, turning Rayon Sports’ own home city into a base for two of the continent’s most storied clubs.
