Arrows win over Zesco lifts CAF CL expectations

Red Arrows coach Chisi Mbewe admits the weight of expectation to do well in the 2022/23 CAF Champions League are high, especially after beating Zambia’s most seasoned continental group campaigners Zesco United over the weekend.

The defending Zambian league champions Red Arrows last Saturday beat their predecessors Zesco 1-0 away in Ndola to collect their fourth straight win over the club that holds the most group stage appearances by Zambia club.

Zesco has qualified to the group stages six times, including one CAF Champions League semi-final finish.

Arrows, who reached the 2021/22 CAF Confederation Cup third round, have never qualified for the group stages of continental competition. 

“I think the Zesco game is one of our preparations for the Champions League. But we know that the Champions League is a different ball game, and we are going to face even more difficult teams there, but we have to believe in ourselves,” Mbewe said. 

However, Zambia has lost its extra slots in the Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup after enjoying that privilege since 2018, but that has now gone to Libya. 

And so Red Arrows will be Zambia’s sole representative in the CAF Champions League while Zesco is in the CAF Confederation Cup.

“Already we have lost two slots, so the nation is looking up to us,” Mbewe said. “We have a huge task ahead, but the most important thing is we have to prepare hard even though it won’t be easy.”

Arrows will kick off their CAF Champions League campaign next weekend on September 9, with a preliminary round first leg home fixture against Primeiro Agosto of Angola. 

Zambia has enjoyed at least one representative in the league rounds of both CAF club cup competitions since 2016. 

This year’s representatives will be hoping to defy the odds and go very far in the tournament.