Nigeria Professional Football League champions, Enyimba and Remo Stars have been eliminated from the preliminary stage of the CAF Champions League.
This means that in the 2023-2024 season, Nigerian won’t have a representative in the elite club continental football.
Despite having the advantage of playing their return legs at home, Enyimba and Remo Stars were knocked out of the CAF Champions League by Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya and Medeama Sports Club of Ghana, respectively.
In their rematch in Aba, Enyimba and Al-Ahly Benghazi fought to a scoreless draw, failing to make up for their 4-3 setback in the first leg.
Murphy Ndukwu, Joseph Atule, Chijioke Mbaoma, and George Owen of the NPFL champions came close, but the visitors—who won the match 4-3 on aggregate and advanced to the next round—proved to be a difficult opponent for the Aba Elephants.
In the same vein, Remo Stars were defeated 3-2 on penalties after playing 1-1 on aggregate at Ikenne against Medeama Sports Club to end their journey in the CAF Champions League.
Coach Daniel Ogunmodede’s squad scored in the second half of the second leg of the preliminary round after suffering a 1-0 defeat in Ghana in the first leg.
Remo Stars hit the post and had a goal in the net in stoppage time to make it 2-0 but the flag was raised against them for offside as the game ended 1-0 in Ikenne.
Hence, the game was settled via a penalty shootout, where Medeama’s goalkeeper Felix Kyei stopped the spot-kicks of Olamilekan Adebayo, Okon Aniekeme, and Samuel Anaekwe to gift the Ghanian side a 3-2 victory.
Due to a new CAF regulation that prohibits losers of the CAF Champions League preliminary stage from being chosen at random for the Confederations Cup, Enyimba and Remo Stars won’t have another opportunity to compete on the continent this season.
