Tough draw for Kaizer Chiefs in Confed Cup group stage

Kaizer Chiefs were handed a tough group in the draw for the 2025-26 Caf Confederation Cup round robin phase held in Johannesburg on Monday.

Chiefs - the 2001 winners of the African Cup Winners’ Cup, one of the predecessors to the Confed - were drawn with two Egyptian sides, Zamalek and Al Masry, and Zambian outfit Zesco United in Group D.

Zesco are regularly competitive in Confederation of African Football interclub competitions, including reaching the 2016 Champions League semifinals, losing there against eventual winners Mamelodi Sundowns.

They reached the Confed quarterfinals in 2017. Zesco played in the Champions League group stages in 2009, 2016, 2018 and 2020 and Confed round robin phase in 2017 and 2019. They have won the Zambian Premier League nine times since being formed in 1974.

Al Masry finished fourth in the Egyptian Premier League (EPL) in 2024-25 and reached quarterfinals of the Confed Cup in 2019-20 and 2021-22 and the semifinals in 2018.

Zamalek, the second-biggest club in Egypt after Al Ahly, ended third in last season’s EPL and have a rich continental history, winning the Champions League five times and Confed twice, in 2018–19 and 2023–24. They have won their domestic league 14 times.

Chiefs were the Champions League runners-up in 2020-21 but have often battled to make an impact in continental competitions.

Stellenbosch FC received an arguably easier draw, being placed in Group C with tough Algerian outfit CR Belouizdad, but with less intimidating AS Otohô Congo and Tanzania’s Singida Black Stars.

Stellies reached the semifinals of the Confed in their first foray into continental club football last season, losing 1-0 on aggregate there to Simba of Tanzania.

Caf Confederation Cup group stage draw

• Group A: USM Alger, Djoliba, OC Safi, FC San Pedro
• Group B: Wydad AC, AS Maniema, Azam FC, Nairobi United
• Group C: CR Belouizdad, Stellenbosch FC, AS Otohô, Singida Black Stars
• Group D: Zamalek, Al Masry, Kaizer Chiefs, Zesco United