Champions Al Ahly and Tunisia’s Esperance are two of six clubs who have been given byes in the preliminary round of the 2014 CAF Champions League.
The other clubs are CAF Confederation Cup winners CS Sfaxien, TP Mazembe of DR Congo, Al Hilal of Sudan and Cameroon’s Coton Sport.
A total of 52 clubs have entered for next year’s competition.
The draw for the club competition staged on Monday in Marrekech, Morocco, sees several past winners of Africa’s foremost clubs competition including Zamalek, Enyimba and Raja Casablanca involved in the preliminary rounds.
Two-time winners Enyimba will first host Ange de Notse of Togo, while Zamalek face AS Douanes of Niger and Raja are up against Diamond Stars of Sierra Leone.
Atlabar will become the first club from South Sudan to feature in this competition and they are drawn against Ghana’s Berekum Chelsea.
The preliminary rounds will kick off on the weekend of February 7-9, while the return leg matches will be played a week later.
The Round of 16 matches will be played between February 28 to March 9, while the final qualifying round before group play begins is slated for between March 21 and 30.
In the CAF Confederation Cup, 42 clubs will compete for the top prize.
This year’s winners CS Sfaxien as well as runners-up TP Mazembe have opted for the more prestigious Champions League.
Nigerian pair Bayelsa United and Warri Wolves have been given byes as well as Asec Mimosas (Ivory Coast), MAS (Morocco), Djoliba (Mali), Ismaily, Wadi Degla (Egypt), Zesco United (Zambia), Al Ahly Shandy (Sudan) and Etoile du Sahel, CA Bizerte (Tunisia).
Malakia will be the first club from South Sudan to feature in this competition and they are pitted against Cara of Congo in the preliminary round.
The first leg preliminary round matches will begin on February 7.
The full draw:
Young Africans (Tanzania) v Komorozine (Comoros) / Berekum Chelsea (Ghana) v Atlabara (South Sudan) / Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya) v Foullah Edifice (Chad) / Gor Mahia (Kenya) v US Bitam (Gabon) / Enyimba (Nigeria) v Anges de Notse (Togo) / FAR Rabat (Morocco) v AS Real Bamako (Mali) / Les Astres (Cameroon) v Akonangui (Equatorial Guinea) / Asante Kotoko (Ghana) v Barrack Young Controllers (Liberia) / Sewe Sport (Ivory Coast) v OS Balantas (Guinea-Bissau) / Dedebit (Ethiopia) v KMKM (Zanzibar) / Nouadhibou (Mauritania) v Horoya (Guinea) / Raja Casablanca (Morocco) v Diamond Stars (Sierra Leone) / Diables Noirs (Congo) v Flambeau de l’Est (Burundi) / ES Setif (Algeria) v Steve Biko (The Gambia) / Diambars (Senegal) v ASFA Yennenga (Burkina Faso) / USM El Harrach (Algeria) v Stade Malien (Mali) / AC Leopards (Congo) v Rayon Sports (Rwanda) / Primeiro de Agosto (Angola) v Lioli (Lesotho) / Kaizer Chiefs (South Africa) v Black Africa (Namibia) / Liga Muculmana (Mozambique) v CNaPS Sport (Madagascar) / Dynamos (Zimbabwe) v Mochudi Centre Chiefs (Botswana) / AS Vita Club (DR Congo) v Kano Pillars (Nigeria) / Zamalek (Egypt) v AS Douanes Nimaey (Niger) / Kabuscorp (Angola) v Cote d’Or (Seychelles) / Mbabane Swallos (Swaziland) v Nkana (Zambia) / Al Merrikh (Sudan) v Kampala City Council (Uganda)
Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Fixtures All matches start at 9.30am, at ICC Academy, Dubai. Admission is free
Thursday UAE v Ireland; Saturday UAE v Ireland; Jan 21 UAE v Scotland; Jan 23 UAE v Scotland
UAE squad Rohan Mustafa (c), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
