Tanzanian giants Yanga (Young Africans) became the first club to reach the 2026/27 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group stage after completing the double over Madagascar’s CFFA, beating them 4-1 at the Azam Complex Stadium in Dar es-Salaam on Wednesday.
Yanga is known among their vast supporters qualified with an aggregate 8-1 victory, having won the first leg 4-0 last Saturday at the same venue, after both sides agreed to have both fixtures played in Dar es-Salaam.
Young Africans will now comfortably wait for 15 more clubs to join them in the prestigious group phase, scheduled to kick off next November.
After a dominating start, Ibrahim Kazimoto gave Young Africans the lead 3 minutes before the half hour mark, to send Yanga to halftime with a 5-0 aggregate advantage.
Four minutes into the second half, Selemani Mwalimu doubled Yanga’s lead, and he added his brace and Yanga’s third after 53 minutes.
The visitors CFFA pulled one back after 75 minutes, but it was a mountain to climb for the Malagasy champions already.
Juma Issa Abushiri made it 4-1 for Young Africans after 82 minutes as their supporters started celebrating their qualification to the group stage for the fourth time in a row.
Simba SC hit six against 15 de Agosto to close in
Meanwhile, Yanga’s top Tanzanian rivals, Simba SC, moved a significant step closer to the group stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League after securing an emphatic 6-1 away victory over Equatorial Guinea’s 15 de Agosto in their second preliminary round first-leg encounter on Wednesday.
Ibrahim Doumbia scored twice, while Nathaniel Chilambo, Elie Mpanzu, Keletso Makgalwa and Anicet Oura were also on target as Simba established a commanding five-goal advantage ahead of the return leg.
The visitors opened the scoring through Chilambo in the 43rd minute, taking a slender 1-0 lead into half-time before producing a devastating attacking display after the interval.
Mpanzu doubled Simba’s advantage in the 56th minute before Doumbia struck nine minutes later to put the Tanzanian side firmly in control.
Makgalwa extended the lead to 4-0 in the 72nd minute as Simba continued to dominate the contest.
Oura added a fifth in the 82nd minute before Doumbia completed his brace in the 88th minute, capping an impressive individual performance and taking Simba’s tally to six.
The home side grabbed a consolation goal in the first minute of stoppage time, but it was too little, too late to prevent a heavy defeat.
Simba’s clinical second-half display, which produced five goals in just 32 minutes, underlined their attacking strength and left their opponents facing an enormous challenge in the return fixture.
The Tanzanian club will now return home with a five-goal cushion, knowing that a place in the group stage of Africa’s premier club competition is firmly within reach.
For 15 de Agosto, the return leg represents a daunting assignment after conceding six goals on home soil.
SOURCE: CAF ONLINE
