Defending champions Young Africans (Yanga) will begin the defence of their Cecafa Kagame Club Championship title against Uganda's Express FC after the two sides were drawn together in Group C.

The Tanzanian league champions will be based in South Darfur and will also face Express, Ports of Djibouti and Vital'O.

Elsewhere in the draw, which was made on Tuesday at the Corinthia Hotel in Khartoum, Merriekh El Fasher, APR, Elman and Simba SC were pooled together in Group A, which will also be based in Darfur.

The other group matches in the 18 June to 2 July tournament will be played in South Kordofan.

Saint George are on the verge of becoming the first team from Ethiopia to reach the group stages of an African continental club competition.

The team from Addis Ababa beat visiting Egyptian side ENPPI 2-0 on Sunday in the first leg of their play-off match for the Confederation Cup group stages.

Shimeles Bekele opened the scoring for Saint George after just four minutes and Abebaw Butako added the second 22 minutes later.

Also on Sunday former African champions TP Mazembe had a comfortable 4-0 win over Mozambique's Liga Muculmana in Lubumbashi.

Africa Cup of Nations star Sunday Mba will adjust his sights to the Confederation Cup this weekend as the contest for group places begins.

Mba's Nigerian club side Enugu Rangers host two-time winners CS Sfaxien of Tunisia on Sunday in the highlight of eight first leg play-off fixtures.

The 24-year-old midfielder scored the only goal of the Cup of Nations final to give the Super Eagles victory over against Burkina Faso in Soweto last February.

He also struck the winner in the shock quarter-final triumph over hot pre-tournament favourites Ivory Coast in South Africa.

SuperSport United have been dumped out of the CAF Confederation Cup after a 3-1 loss to Egyptian side ENPPI at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday.

South African sides have had a notoriously lackadaisical attitude to CAF competitions in the past, but SuperSport has talked up their determination to do well this year.

Maluleka had SuperSport in front on 10 minutes though with a fantastic strike from just outside the box that flew into the top corner.

But the tie turned on two goals in as many minutes for the visitors just before halftime and Ivorian forward Vincent die Foneye got Ismaily both.

The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) has confirmed that the once-troubled Darfur region in western Sudan will host the 2013 Cecafa Club Championships next month.

The football body said that Democratic Republic of Congo side St. Eloi Lupopo will take part in the event.

Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye also told BBC Sport that "a team from Eritrea is yet to confirm".

Musonye said that Darfur is 90% ready to host the event, but for only two of the three groups.

"Two football stadiums in Al Fashir - Al Nuggaa [capacity 15,000] and Al Fashir [45,000] - were of impressive quality and so were hotel accommodations and transport," he said.

ASEC Mimosas only managed a 1-0 victory over Lydia LB Academic on Saturday in Abidjan, in the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup’s second round tie. 

The score could have been much heavier in favour of the Ivoirians who had endless opportunities in that game, which appeared pretty much like a one way affair.

The locals had their first opportunity in the 8th minute with a Goua Mahan’s strike cleared by the Burundian keeper, Nyabenda  Athanase for the header of Mimos’ skipper Hugues Zagbayou who ended up off target.

Unfortunately for the visitors, an injured Nyabenda had to leave the field, making room for second choice keeper Epimaque.

There are five former African champions among the 16 hopefuls entering the final qualifying round this weekend for the CAF Confederation Cup.

And FAR Rabat and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast, Etoile Sahel of Tunisia and Ismaily of Egypt are favoured to win two-leg ties and reach play-offs against CAF Champions League last-16 losers.

CS Sfaxien of Tunisia have also experienced continental glory, being the only club to successfully defend the Confederation Cup, the second-tier African club competition loosely modelled on the Europa League.

Also in action will be US Bitam of Gabon, who scored a record 17 goals in a preliminary tie, and Liga Muculmana of Mozambique, whose 7-1 thrashing of Nigerian visitors Lobi Stars in Maputo was totally unexpected.

Papy Faty has been a revelation in the Bidvest Wits set up this season.

The experienced Burundian international has in recent matches formed an instrumental midfield partnership with the duo of Tinashe Nengomasha and Sibusiso Vilakazi to form a midfield trio that has been fruitful under the tutelage of coach Clive Barker.

His fantastic form in recent matches saw him score the winning goal in his side’s 2-1 victory at Golden Arrows three weeks ago and now Faty is hoping for more.

“I always try to push myself very hard which will not only benefit me but it will also benefit the team. We have had some tough games before and we lost them but now we are pushing ourselves hard and making things hard for other teams,” said Faty.

The Council of East and Central Football Association (Cecafa) finally confirmed that the regional Kagame Club Championships will take place in June.

Rogers Mulindwa, the Cecafa Media Officer told MTNFootball.com that they have finally drawn the programme to have the tournament in the later part of June after two matches in the 2014 World Cup qualifier have been played.

The regional Kagame Club Championships attracts the League winners in all the 12 Cecafa member nations that include; Zanzibar, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan.

“We cannot say announce which country will host the event at this moment, but in the next two weeks we should announce the sponsors and hosts,” explained Mulindwa.

Congo Brazzaville football club AC Leopards demonstrated remarkable fighting spirit at the weekend to snatch a place among the last 16 of the CAF Champions League.

Written off after a 4-1 drubbing from Kano Pillars in Nigeria three weeks ago, Leopards scored deep into stoppage time at home to triumph 3-0 and squeeze through on the away-goal rule.

The encounter began with both sides feeling themselves out until the 30th minute when a glaring offside scored by Arouna Drame Bine was allowed by the centre referee from Ivory Coast, Doue Noumadiez.