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.

Moroccan rivals FUS Rabat and FAR Rabat have been drawn together in the Confederation Cup round of 16 play-off matches.

The pair, who share the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, will go head-to-head for a place in the group stage of African football's second-tier club competition.

The two-legged ties are made up of the eight winners from the Confederation Cup second round and the eight losers from the Champions League second round.

First legs will be played over the weekend of 15-17 May with the return matches taking place during the weekend of 31 May-2 June.

Goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa inspired Orlando Pirates to the group stages of the Orange Caf Champions League despite losing 1-0 to TP Mazembe in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Pirates go through by virtue of the superior goal aggregate, having beaten Mazembe 3-1 in the first leg played at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.

Meyiwa saved two penalties to help a Pirates team that had skipper Lucky Lekgwathi sent off hold on till the final whistle.

The Buccaneers full-back Patrick Phungwayo was yellow carded in the 30th minute, setting the mood for what was a tense game

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.

Orlando Pirates have seized the advantage after 3-1 victory over TP Mazembe in their African Champions League clash in Orlando on Saturday night.

The South African side dominated much of the match and could have won by a greater margin.

It was a much improved Pirates performance than in recent weeks, though Coach Roger de Sa admits the night could have gone better for them. 

“I’m disappointed we conceded, the away goal will give them something to work with. For us the three could have been five, but today’s performance was outstanding from everybody,” De Sa said.

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.

Former African champions Ismaily of Egypt survived a scare in Madagascar at the weekend to reach the last-16 round of the CAF Confederation Cup.

Taking what appeared a comfortable two-goal lead into the return match against TCO Boeny in Mahajanga, the experienced African campaigners fell 2-0 behind three minutes into the second half.

But Ghanaian John Antwi scored midway through the second half and Ibrahim Hassan levelled in the final minute to earn a 2-2 on the day and a 4-2 overall victory for the Egyptians.

Zola Raveloarison had put Boeny in front four minutes before half-time and Alain Andrianantenaina doubled the lead three minutes after the interval to raise hopes of a rare Malagasy victory in a CAF club competition.

Several of the favourites in Africa’s qualifiers for the 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil struggled on the third matchday of the group stage, now at the half-way point.

Morocco's loss in Tanzania was the biggest surprise, while 2012 African champions Zambia were held to a draw in Lesotho and Senegal and new African kings Nigeria were held at home. As only the ten group winners advance to the final round of qualifying, the dropped points will undoubtedly increase the pressure and the chances of a major shock moving forward.

The Super Eagles were expected to enjoy a bit of a walk in the park at home against their East African opponents, however, it turned out to be anything but as 20-year-old Kahata gave the visitors the lead when he scored direct from a free-kick.