Kaizer Chiefs will bring up a major milestone for South African football when they host Wydad Casablanca on Saturday in what will be the country’s 300th match in the CAF Champions League.
It will be fitting in a way that the honour falls to the AmaKhosi as they were also involved in South Africa’s first game in the continent’s elite club competition when they defeated Lobatse Gunners from Botswana 1-0 away in the preliminary round in 1993.
South African clubs have played 298 games so far in the Champions League, with Mamelodi Sundowns next in action when they travel to Sudanese side Al Hilal on Friday. Chiefs will then bring up 300 against Wydad at FNB Stadium on Saturday evening.
Sundowns have been by far the most active side in the Champions League down the years, having competed on 14 occasions, with Friday’s game their 118th. They have 63 wins, 29 draws and 25 defeats from the previous 117.
Orlando Pirates have been involved in 11 Champions League seasons and their 82 games have seen them win 36, draw 25 and lose 21.
A recent change in attitude towards the competition from Chiefs has seen them move past SuperSport United and into third for most appearances by South African clubs with 33 (W19 D6 L8) from six seasons. They competed just twice in the 20 years between 1993 and 2013.
SuperSport have appeared four times and played 26 matches (W12 D6 L8), most of those under former coach Gavin Hunt, who leads Chiefs this season.
None of the other five teams who have competed from South Africa remain in the professional ranks, namely Ajax Cape Town (14 matches), Manning Rangers (10), BidVest Wits (8), Platinum Stars (6) and Santos (2).
Overall, South African sides have 146 wins, 76 draws and 76 defeats from their 298 matches. They have outscored their opponents 454-264.
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