Orlando Pirates could win CAF Champions League 2012

Of all South African teams to participate in CAF champions league in the past 10 years, Pirates has got the easiest path in the draw that was made few days ago for next year’s Champions league tournament.

Here’s their path:Preliminary round: They are will fight it out with Clube Recreativo Desportivo do Libolo from Angola
First qualifying round: They will play with a Sunshine Stars of Nigeria
Second qualifying round: They will play a winner between Djoliba Athletic Club (Mali) and Lesotho Correctional Services (Lesotho)/Uganda Revenue Authority Sports Club (Uganda)
This is a much much “easier” draw for the Buccaneers; by “easier” I by no means mean that these matches will be walkovers but instead I compared these teams (Pirates opponents) with the ones Supersport United had to go through during the 3 years they participated in this tournament.
This year Matsatsantsa met Al Ahly in the first qualifying round, a year before that (2010) they faced the then on fire Heartland (Nigeria) in second round of qualifiers

Orlando Pirates could not have asked for a better draw than this, they only stand a possibility of meeting African club football heavyweights like the ones below in the group stages of this tournament:

- Esperance (Defending champions),
- Al Ahly (6 times CAF champions league champions and CAF club of the century),
- Etoile Sahel (2007 champions and 2004 & 2005 runners up),
- Al Hilal (3 times Champions league semi-finalists in the last 5 years),
- Al-Merreikh (2007 runners up),
- Raja Casablanca (3 times champions league winners),
- Coton Sport (2008 runner ups and 11 time Cameroonian league champions), and
- TP Mazembe (2010 champions & FIFA club world cup finalists)

Pirates has made it clear that they are going in this tournament to try by all means to win it and get their second golden star and judging by current crop of players in their books, their currect great run in cup competitions, the draw they got and the amount of silverware they have won in the past 2 years... CAF champions league & CAF confederations cup are the only 2 trophies not in their trophy cabinet and they have a shot at taking 1 of the 2.

I hereby declare that Pirates are 1 of the highly possible winners of this tournament. Their odds are 4/1... By yours truly

By Mokete Sethunya
http://twitter.com/moketesethunya

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FIFA Rankings for COSAFA region - November 2011

As it is still early days of this blog, we will be introducing new features which will add more value and make this site more informative as we progresses.

Therefore we now introduces the latest feature on the blog which is RANKINGS which will be keeping you up to date of how our countries are placed in the latest FIFA rankings, we also will be focussing on how well our countries are doing on ranked on CAF rankings as well.

As soon as FIFA releases the latest rankings we will publish them here.

Here are current rankings as released in November by FIFA

COSAFA  Country          CAF      FIFA

1           South Africa      8          53

2           Zimbabwe         16        70

3           Zambia             19        79

4           Angola              20        84

5           Malawi             21        87

6           Botswana        23        96

7           Mozambique    26        105

8           Namibia           30        121

9           Tanzania          37        136

10         Lesotho           41        148

11         Madagascar    43        157

12         Swaziland         45        179

13         Seychelles        46        183

14         Comoros          48        186

15         Mauritius         50        191

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Orlando Pirates' 75th anniversary kit launched

The players will come out in their new kit when they take on Bidvest Wits during the Telkom Knockout Final at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium next Saturday.

"Orlando Pirates gave us a brief to develop an anniversary jersey that celebrated the rich history of the club as well as the bright and exciting future. The design inspiration came from the strip used by the all-conquering 1973 team that won all cups that were on offer in that season," says Kevin Jooste, the football category manager at Adidas South Africa, on Bucs' official website.

Adidas has also developed a special anniversary logo, using the round logo which dates back to the 50s and was used until the late 60s as inspiration.

"For the inner-neck logo we used the original logo as an inspiration with 1937 accompanying it. As a result of close interaction between adidas and the club, respecting the history and celebrating the future, we have created a jersey that all Buccaneers can be proud of," adds Jooste.


"While our focus is always on providing for the future, it is equally important that we look to commemorate our long and rich heritage. As one of the oldest football clubs in Africa, it is imperative that we celebrate these key milestones.

"With the club turning 75 next year, the Telkom Knockout Final has presented a perfect platform for Orlando Pirates Football Club to mark the beginning of the celebrations, which will be carried throughout 2012," says Mickey Modisane, Pirates PRO, on the club's official website.

The jersey will retail at a recommended price of R599 and will be available in shops from Monday, December 5.

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