Samartex 1996 defeated Victoria United, the champions of Cameroon 2-0 on aggregate in the first round of qualifiers to set up a clash against Moroccan champions, Raja Casablanca, who smashed Niger champions ASGNN 7-1 on aggregate.
The two legged affair will renew a 36-year-old rivalry that has existed between Ghana and Morocco in the CAF Champions League.
Here, Sportsworldghana’s Amakye Ansah takes you through Ghana and Morocco’s CAF Champions League odyssey.
The CCL began in the 1964/65 season and no Ghanaian club played any Moroccan club until 23 years later.
The first Ghanaian-Moroccan clubs encounter in the CAF Champions league was a tie between Asante Kotoko and Wydad Atletic in 1987. Kotoko played Wydad Casablanca in the second round of the African Club Championship with the Porcupine Warriors winning 2-0 in Kumasi after drawing 1-1 in Morocco against Wydad in the first leg.
Kotoko in 1990, in the second round, won 4-3 on aggregate against FAR Rabat. A very entertaining 3-3 draw in Morocco in the first leg promised a great second leg. Kotoko won by a lone goal to nil in the second leg in Kumasi to eliminate FAR.
Kotoko in 1993 also triumphed against Kawkab Marrakech. It ended 3-1 on aggregate. Kotoko emphatically won 3-0 in the first leg at the Kumasi sports stadium and lost narrowly by 1-0 in Marrakech in the return leg.
The fourth encounter involving Ghanaian clubs and Moroccan clubs was a tie between Ashgold and COD Meknes in 1996. In the second round of the competition, COD Meknes won 1-0 in Morocco and drew goalless in Obuasi. The Moroccans triumphed 1-0 on aggregate.
In 1997, the group stage of the competition was introduced. Raja Casablanca and Obuasi Goldfields topped Group A and B respectively.
Hence, they met in the grand finale.
Coach Herbert Addo and his Goldfields on 30th November in 1997 won by 1-0 at the Len Clay Stadium in Obuasi in the first leg with the winning goal scored on the 79th minute by Lawrence Adjei.
On December 14th 1997 at The Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca, Raja also won thanks to Nazir’s 78th minute strike. Raja triumphed 5-4 on penalties and lifted the trophy.
In 1999 in the group stages, Raja was in the same group (A) with Accra Hearts of Oak. Matchday 1 on August 22nd pitted the two in Casablanca, Raja won by an early goal scored by Redouane El Himer in the 2nd minute.
The return encounter was on the Matchday 5 (October 23), Hearts of Oak drew goalless at the Accra Sports Stadium with the Moroccan giants.
The 7th meeting was a repeat of the 1990 encounter. On 6th March 2005, Kotoko this time around was eliminated by FAR in the semi finals of the qualification. Asante Kotoko won the first leg by Yussif Chibsah’s
77th minute powerful header from a corner kick and was beaten 2-0 in Rabat by FAR Rabat in the return encounter. Kotoko lost 2-1 on aggregate.
Shaibu Yakubu’s early spot kick in the second half and Alex Asamoah’s injury time goal helped Ashgold in 2007 secured a 2-0 lead in the first leg but was beaten 3-0 by FAR Rabat in the Second leg. Ashgold lost 3-2 to FAR Rabat on aggregate.
Stephen Oduro’s strike in between Jordan Opoku’s brace in 2009 at the Essippong Stadium gave Kotoko a 3-1 first leg lead against Ittihad kemisset. Kotoko played the game away from Kumasi because they were serving a ban after attacking referee Koffi Codja in their 2-2 draw in CAF Confederations Cup group game against Etoile Du Sahel the previous season.
Ittihad Kemisset surprisingly won 2-0 in the second leg and won the tie on away goal rule.
Wydad Casablanca, Hearts of on the 15th October played their second Champions league game against a Ghanaian opponent in 2011.
They won the first leg by 3-0 in Casablanca against Aduana Stars. Don Bortey’s 37th minute penalty defeated Wydad 1-0 in the second leg but it wasn’t enough to progress them.
In 2012, Berekum Chelsea marvelously massacred Raja Casablanca by 5 goals to nil. That game undoubtedly restored the nations club football lost pride.
Emmanuel Clottey scored an unforgettable hattrick. Skipper Abdul Basit and Solomon Asante also scored against the Moroccans.
The biggest winning marging of any CCL fixture between clubs of the two countries until 2021.
Raja only equalised 3 of the goals in the second leg as they triumphed 3-0. Berekum Chelsea won 5-3 on aggregateate.
In 2021, Hearts of Oak defeated Wydad 1-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium through Isaac Mensah’s first half strike in the first leg of the final playoffs of the CAF Champions League.
At the famous Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca, Hearts of Oak was unforgettably mauled by Wydad Casablanca 6-1 in the second leg. A brace from Tanzanian forward Simon Msuva and a goal each from Moroccan internationals; El Hassouni, Achraf Dari, Yahya Jabrane (pen) and Anas Arrest condemned Hearts of Oak to an embarrassing defeat.
In all, 24 games have been played between the two countries in the CAF Champions League.
The two countries have ten wins apiece and four draws.
Samartex welcomes Raja Casablanca at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday at 3 pm in the first leg.
The second leg is scheduled to take place on Saturday 21st September at 7 pm.
