Clubs forfeit Champions League home advantage
Reuters - Wednesday 20 April 2011, 11:55
CAIRO - Clubs from Ivory Coast and
Libya, where civil conflict has brought football activity to a
halt, must forfeit home advantage in next month's African
Champions League matches.
ASEC Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Al Ittihad (Libya) will play
a single away game to determine qualification for the group
phase of the continent's top club competition, the Confederation
of African Football (CAF) said in a statement on Wednesday.
Usually the games would be staged over two legs but CAF said
the security situation in both countries dictated that one
single match should be played instead.
Former African champions ASEC will meet Raja Casablanca in
Morocco on May 7 while Al Ittihad, semi-finalists two years ago,
visit Enyimba of Nigeria the same day.
While civil conflict continues in Libya, Ivory Coast is
returning to some semblance of normality following a four-month
power struggle that ended last week when outgoing president
Laurent Gbagbo was removed from office.