Confederation of African Football Logo. (Courtesy).

South Sudan’s two representatives to the continental CAF championships will be familiar with their preliminary opponents in the draw scheduled for Tuesday as SSFA warns them to be vigilant on the CAF registration timeframe.

Al-Salam FC Bor and El-Marriekh FC Juba, like other African clubs, are expected to provide information about the squad including names, licenses, health certificates, and home stadium, among others.

The 2023/24 season of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup preliminary stages will be drawn on Tuesday and will signal the kick-off of this year’s continental clubs’ top-tier tournament.

54 clubs from 42 Member Associations are to participate in this season’s CAF Champions League.

While 52 clubs representing 41 Member Associations will compete in the CAF Confederation Cup. Both tournaments have been scheduled to start in August 2023.

Al-Salaam Bor, the reigning champions of the South Sudan National League, will be participating in the CAF champions league, and El- Marriekh FC Juba will take part in CAF Confederation Cup as the winner of the South Sudan Cup.

The preliminary stages draw will be conducted on Tuesday, 25 July 2023 at 14hoo Cairo time (11h00 GMT) at the CAF Headquarters starting with the CAF Confederation Cup.

Mangong Gai, the manager of Al-Salam FC Bor, said the team is ready to challenge for the best possible spot in the tournament.

“We are a team of challenge, the team that is ready to face any situation we are to African giants clubs, we are not expecting a certain team we are ready to anyone we are open to tomorrow’s draw,” Gai said.

On his part, the secretary general of El-Mereikh FC Juba said he prays his side will be drawn against East Africa teams to help reduce the financial cost of travels.

“You know travel abroad is too costly, for example, if you play a team from West or North Africa it will be too expensive but if you play a team within the region, you may travel even by using a bus,” he said.

Meanwhile, the South Sudan Football Association has reminded the clubs about the CAF registrations that will end on July 31.

In a statement seen by Eye Radio, SSFA urged the two clubs to make sure all the requirements are met, and the registration process is completed to avoid any issues with CAF.

Regarding that, Kamal said the two team were introduced to the CAF system during a short workshop by SSFA on Monday morning.

He said they will be able to register their players in the CAF system by themselves.

And for his part, the Al-Salam FC Bor said putting the players on the CAF system will not be an issue to them while their players are from South Sudan only with no professional players from other countries.