Remo and Enyimba tumble out.

next the elimination of Enyimba and Remo Stars in the competition’s opening preliminary round on Sunday, Nigeria will not have a team participating in the CAF Champions League the next season.Though both teams finished first and second in the Nigeria Professional Football League the previous season, they were unable to capitalise on their home field advantages. Enyimba lost to Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya, while Remo Stars were eliminated by Medeama Sports Club of Ghana.

The NPFL champions, Enyimba, were unable to reverse their 4-3 loss in the first leg as they played to a goalless draw in their match against Al-Ahly Benghazi in Aba.The People’s Elephant had chances through Murphy Ndukwu, Joseph Atule, Chijioke Mbaoma, and George Owen, but the nine-time NPFL champions could not break through their opponents, who went on to the next round 4-3 on aggregate…

The winners of the Ghana Premier League, Medeama Sports Club, eliminated Remo Stars 3-2 in Ikenne on penalties.Daniel Ogunmodede’s team laboured for the majority of the match and also struck the crossbar, but they finally broke through in the second half thanks to an erroneous corner kick. They went up 1-0 to even the score at one goal overall.

Remo too believed they had won in stoppage time with the ball in the net, but the flag was raised against them.After ninety minutes, the game went directly to penalty shootouts. Medeama’s Felix Kyei, the goalie, saved three straight attempts from Olamilekan Adebayo, Okon Aniekeme, and Samuel Anaekwe, sending Remo to a 3-2 loss.

Enyimba and Remo Stars are out of the continent due to a new CAF law that states clubs ousted from the Champions League will not be entered into the Confederation Cup as they were in the past.After their elimination, the only Nigerian teams left on the continent are Bendel Insurance, the FA Cup champions, and Rivers United, both of which will be attempting to advance to the Confederation Cup group stage.

Bendel Insurance has been picked to play Morocco’s RS Berkane in the second preliminary round, while Rivers United will play Burkina Faso’s Etoile Filante in the next round, following their thrilling victory over ASO Chlef of Algeria.