Al-Ahly challenges Moroccan Wydad in the CAF Champions League final

 

CAIRO, 4 June 4, 2023: Al-Ahly will host at nine o’clock this evening, Sunday, its Moroccan counterpart, Wydad Casablanca, in the first leg of the CAF Champions League final at Cairo International Stadium.

 

Al Ahl’ys coach, the Swiss Marcel Koller, is seeking to achieve a good result before the second leg scheduled for next Sunday in Morocco.

 

Al-Ahly and Wydad will meet tonight in the final round for the second time in a row, after last year’s edition, which Wydad won in its favor by winning 2-0 at Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca.

 

 

Al-Ahly started this tournament with a strong confrontation against Tunisia’s Al-Ittihad Monastiri, the runner-up of the last edition of the Tunisian League, in the 32nd round, and the Egyptian champion won 4-0 on aggregate.

 

The group stage draw resulted in Al-Ahly falling at the top of the second group with the South African Sun Downs, the Sudanese Al Hilal and the Cameroonian Cotton. The Reds qualified to the quarter-finals as group’s runner-up.

 

In the quarter-finals, Al-Ahly beat Morocco’s Rajaa Casablanca 2-0 on aggregate. Before defeating Tunisia’s Esperance 4-0 on aggregate.

 

Wydad came at the top of the first group, and took the lead, ahead of Algeria’s JS Kabylie, Angola’s Petro Atletico and Congolese Vita Club, respectively.

 

In the quarter-finals, the Moroccan champion overcame the Tanzanian Simba hurdle with a penalty shootout, after their draw 1-1 on aggregate.

 

 

Wydad Casablanca succeeded to eliminate CAF Champions League title favorites, Mamelodi Sundowns, after they managed to draw 0-0 in Morocco & 2-2 in South Africa.

 

 

Officials of the Confederation of African Football assigned the first leg match of the African Championship final between Al-Ahly and Moroccan Wydad to Libyan referee Moataz Ibrahim, Tunisian Haitham Kirat, referee for VAR, and Mustafa Ghorbal, assistant to VAR.

 

Al-Ahly won the championship ten times, which is an African record, followed by Congolese Mazembe clubs and Zamalek with five championships each, followed by Tunisian Esperance with four titles, then Canon Yaounde of Cameroon, Havia Conakry of Guinea, Raja and Moroccan Wydad with three titles each.

 

Al-Ahly is chasing THE 11th title in the African Champions League, after previously crowning it in 1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020 and 2021.

 

Moroccan Wydad is chasing its fourth African title, after it had previously won the championship three previous times, in the years 1992, 2017, and 2022.