Gor Mahia Set for Rulani Mokwena Test after Landing Nightmare CAF Champions League Draw

Gor Mahia’s CAF Champions League return will get off to a challenging start after they were paired with one of the tournament’s favourites for the first preliminary round.

K’Ogalo are making a return to continental football after a one-year hiatus and their route to the lucrative group stage is a tricky one as they have been handed big-spending Egyptian side Pyramids FC managed by South African coach Rulani Mokwena.

Pyramids are no mean feat as they are the CAF Champions League winners of the 2024-25 season and after being knocked out at the quarter-final last season, they have brought in Mokwena to try and wrestle the title from his ex-club Mamelodi Sundowns.

It is a tough match for Gor Mahia, who will start their campaign at home, but they have to do it nonetheless, if they want to challenge for continental honours.

If they win the nightmare two-legged first preliminary round, the record Kenyan champions will head to the preliminary second round, where another tricky test will await them, against either South Sudan’s Merriekh Bentiu of Heegan SC from Somalia, before the group stage, which would earn them $700,000 in prize money.

The first leg of the CAF Champions League first preliminary round will be played between September 4 and 6 before the second one is staged from September 11-13.

Gor Mahia’s best result in this competition is a quarter-final in 1969 and 1992 when it was in its old format as African Cup of Champions Clubs but have never made the group stage as currently constituted.

Coach Charles Akonnor has been heavily backed in the transfer market with the aim of making an impact in the Champions League and he now has his work cut out.

Meanwhile, Tusker FC, Kenya’s representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup, will take on Sudan’s Al Ahli Madani in the first preliminary round.