Fair draw for Rollers, Orapa United

Kabelo Boranabi | Friday December 23, 2016 11:45

 

Rollers have been pitted against Madagascar’s Caisse Nationale de Prevoynace Socaile (CNaPS) Sport while Orapa United will face Mbabane Swallows of Swaziland. 

CNaPS do not have much of a continental football history, but they are the five time Madagascan champions having won the league in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The team has participated in the continental tournament twice but has never progressed to the first round on both occasions as they were eliminated in the preliminary round in 2011 and 2014. In 2014, they were eliminated by Muculmana of Mozambique. Popa will be away on the first leg on the second week of February and will welcome the islanders in March. The winner of the two-legged fixture will face the winner of the Cameroon’s Coton Sport and Atlabara FC of South Sudan in the first round.

On the other hand, the Ostriches will welcome Swallows in the first leg in February. Swallows, like CNaPS are not football powerhouses in the continent. However, Umkhonto Kashaka have participated in the Champions League five times and will be making their Confederations Cup debut. Swallows have won the league five times in 1993, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2013 and are the four time Swazi Cup champions. The winner of the tie will face Tanzanian club, Azam FC.

The local team’s chances of reaching the group stages have amplified as CAF have increased the number of teams in the group stages from eight to 16 teams. The continental football governing body earlier this year announced the increase in the prize money to two million US Dollars (around P20 million). Rollers and BDF XI represented Botswana in the CAF competitions last year. Both teams were knocked out by Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa and Tanzania’s Young Africans respectively.