Orlando Pirates are likely to be unseeded when the draw for the group phase of the African Champions League is made in Cairo next week.
But their chances of continuing to do well in the competition are enhanced by a surprise field that features three newcomers and only three of the traditional old guard.
Pirates will find out the identity of their next opponents at the draw on May 15 at the Confederation of African Football’s headquarters where the eight teams are divided onto two groups of four – two seeds and two unseeded.
Seeds are determined by recent form in the competition which means holders Al Ahli of Egypt; last year’s runners up Esperance of Tunisia and Coton Sport of Cameroon and Zamalek of Egypt are likely to be seeded. Pirates have an outside chance but it is unlikely they will be seeded.
The three newcomers to the group phase will all be unseeded. They are surprise package AC Leopards from Congo, who won last year’s African Confederation Cup; Sewe Sport of the Ivory Coast and Recreativo Libolo, the Angolan club that Pirates lost to in the first round of the 2012 Champions League. Bucs could be presented with a chance for revenge.
The down side of qualifying for the last eight means Pirates now have brief vacation after their final game of the season on May 18 … and be back in action just over two months later.
Their first game in group phase is on the weekend of July 19-21. The next weekend Pirates play arch rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the annual Carling Black Label Cup at Soccer City on July 27 and the weekend after Bucks go back in Champions League action.
It means they are set for many disruptions to their domestic programme at the start of the 2013-14 season and will have to play catch up later on.
Pirates are guaranteed six group games until late September. Should they finish in the top two in the group they go onto the semifinals, to be played over two legs, in October.
The final of the Champions League is in November, also over two legs home and away, with the winner going onto the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco in December.
Pirates now earn a minimum of R3,5-million for participating in the league even if they do not win another game.
The Champions League winners gets a prize of R13,4-million, the runners-up almost R9-million, the semifinalists R6,2-million and the team who finish third in the group stage almost R4,5-million.
Five percent of this prize money must be given to the South African Football Association, which presents the delicious irony of Irvin Khoza contributing the coffers of his sworn political enemies at bankrupt SAFA.
