CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
The first leg of the 16thCAF Champions' League preliminary round matches will take place this weekend. In Freetown, Ports Authority will lock horns with defending champions Horoya Athlétique of Guinea in an all Mano River Union affair.
The Water Front Boys are currently struggling at the bottom of the Premier League table, with only one point in four matches. The Guinée Championnat Nationalis yet to start.
Below is a brief history of both clubs, indicating their achievements and previous performance in CAF Competitions.
PORTS AUTHORITY
Ports Authority is one of the biggest and most popular football clubs in Sierra Leone. They won the Sierra Leone National Premier League in 1973, 2008 and again in 2011. They have won the Sierra Leone FA Cup competition two consecutive times in 1990 and 1991.
Ports Authority has an intense rivalry with East End Lions with both clubs coming from the east of Freetown. In 1996, Ports Authority became the first and only Sierra Leonean football club so far to reach the Quarter-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup.
They have made 3 appearances in the CAF Champions League but have been eliminated at the preliminary stage on all occasions. In 2000 the Dragons de l'Ouémé of Benin defeated them on a 3-1 aggregateand in 2009 AS Douanes of Senegal thrashed Ports 4-1 on aggregate.
In 1974, they made only one appearance in the then African Cup of Champions Clubs, but could not make it through the first round as ASC Jeanne d'Arcof Senegal sailed through 5-4 on aggregate.
Their CAF Confederation Cup performance in 2007 ended in the first round as Ports lost to AS Bamako of Mali 3-0 on aggregate, and in the 2011 preliminary round, Touré Kunda Footproof Senegal went through 4–3 on aggregate.
HOROYA ATHLÉTIQUE
Horoya Athlétique Club is a football club based in Conakry, Guinea. They won the African Cup Winners' Cup (now the African Confederation Cup) in 1978. One of the most significant players in Horoya in the 1970s and 1980s was Kerfalla Bangoura who came third in 1979 in the CAF African Player of the Year voting.
They won the African Cup Winners' Cup in 1978 after a 3-1 away victory against MA Hussein Dey in Stade 5 Juillet in Algeria and at home they won 2-1, clinching the trophy on 5-2 aggregate.
They have won the Guinée Championnat National title 10 times in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2011.
The Guinée Coupe Nationale is the top knockout tournament of Guinean football and they have won it four times in 1989, 1994, 1995, 1999.
They have appeared three times in the CAF Champions League, in 2000 and qualified to the first round of the competition by defeating Guinea Bissau’s Sporting Bissau 3-1 on aggregate, but were ousted 4-3 by Ghana’s Hearts of Oak. Their 2002 preliminary round campaign against Wallidan FC of The Gambia who drubbed them 4-1.
Horoya has made six African Cup of Champions Clubsappearances, 1986 (second round), 1987 (first round), 1989 (first round), 1992 (second round), 1993 (first round) and 1995 (first round).
Three CAF Cup appearances in 1997 and 1999 (first round) and 1998 (second round). They also made seven appearances in the CAF Cup Winners’ Cup in 1978 (Champions), 1979 (semi-finalists), 1980 (second round), 1983 (semi-finalists), 1984 (first round), 1985 (second round) and 1996 (first round).
In 2009, they wereChampions of the West African Club Championship (UFOA Cup), also known as the General Eyadéma Cup, which was a West African Club tournament from 1977 to 1999. It was open to league runners-up in the West Africa (or Zone 3) region of the CAF. While the first matches were played of the 2000 tournament, the competition was cancelled before the final, largely for financial reasons. While the intention of the CAF was to revive a national squad tournament in its place, the planned annual CSSA Nations Cup has not been regularly scheduled since. The tournament was resurrected in 2009 to pit each member country's highest team not featuring in the CAF Champions League or the CAF Confederation Cup with Togo as hosts.
9th CAF CONFEDERATION CUP
The 9th preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup is also on this weekend as FC Kallon travel to Cameroon to face third place Union De Douala.
FC KALLON
FC Kallon, formerly Sierra Fisheries, are based in Freetown. The club is one of the top clubs in the Sierra Leone National Premier League and it is named after and owned by the successful Sierra Leonean footballer Mohamed Kallon, who is renowned for playing for Internazionale and AS Monaco FC.
Sierra Fisheries was acquired by Kallon in 2002 and they won the league and FA cup double four years later thereby qualifying for the African Champions League.
Their first appearance in the CAF Champions Leaguesaw them through the preliminary stage by eliminating Ocean Boys of Nigeria 1-0 but went out after losing to Asec Mimosas of Abidjan 3-1.
UNION SPORTIVE DOUALA
Union Sportive Douala (also known as Union Douala) is a Cameroonianfootball club based in Douala. It was founded in 1957 and played its home matches in the Stade de la Réunification. Union Douala were third in the 2011-2012 Championnat du Cameroun de football also known as MTN Elite One since 2007. They are four times Cameroon Premiere Division winners – in 1969, 1976, 1978, 1990. Five times Cameroon Cup winners in 1961, 1969, 1980, 1985, 1997. The Cameroon Cup is the country's national knockout competition.
In 1979, Union Douala were defeated by Accra Hearts of Oak SC 1-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium and the return leg ended with the same margin but in favor of Union Douala at the Stade Omnisport in Yaoundé with the hosts winning the African Cup of Champions Clubs 5-3 after a post-game penalty shootout.
They also added the African Cup Winners' Cup to their record in 1981, after playing to a goalless first leg at home against Nigeria’s Stationery Stores FC to secure a 2-1 win at the Surulere Stadium in Lagos.
Their 2008 preliminary round CAF Champions League fixture against Togo ASKO Karaended 4-1 against them. They took part in the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1970 (second round), 1977 (second round), 1979 (Champion), 1980 (semi-finals) and 1991 (quarter-finals).
They are now making their third appearance at the CAF Confederation Cup in 2005 (second round) and 2007 (second round). In 1981 they won the CAF Cup Winners' Cup.
