A daunting task for Medeama SC in CAF Champions league – Gabby Ofei writes

For the uninitiated, the perfect place to start is to tell you where Medeama Sporting Club are from.

They are a club based in Tarkwa, formerly known as Kessben FC, a name that was changed to Medeama Sporting Club in January 2011.

Medeama SC are the current champions of Ghana’s top-flight, clinching the title for the very first time in 47 years under Head Coach Evans Augustine Adotey.

As a result, Adotey etched his name in the history books of Ghana football, joining the elite club of managers to win the title for their respective clubs, besides the traditional big two.

He also joins Prosper Narteh Ogum who won it with Kumasi Asante Kotoko in the 2021/22 season, and Samuel Boadu, ex-coach for Accra Hearts of Oak in the 2020/21 season as the most recent league-winning coaches.

Now, not to digress, Medeama, also known as the Mauve & Yellows, are currently the only Premier League club from the Western Region, precisely Tarkwa.

The region until recently had two representatives but these days Karela United find themselves up north in the Northern Region after being purchased by Member of Parliament for Tamale South Constituency, Haruna Iddrisu.

As such, the “Western Derby” as it was known as when the two sides clashed in the premier league, will unfortunately not be seen for the foreseeable future.

On June 12, 2023, Medeama SC claimed their first-ever BetPawa Premier League title after starting the season poorly with David Duncan in charge; he eventually got axed by the club after a string of poor results.

Assistant Coach Umar Rabi took charge in the interim before Adotey who acted as the Technical Director came into the picture as Head Coach.

Adotey comes in with enormous experience on the local terrain, and the task was to salvage the sinking boat – Evans Augustine Adotey – the man whose name will forever linger on the minds of the Tarkwa people, after guiding the team to clinch the title.

• Background Information of Evans Augustine Evans Adotey

Adotey joined Medeama in 2013 as an assistant coach.

In March 2013, he was appointed as interim coach and led the club to their first Ghana FA Cup win and led them to a 4th place finish by the end of the 2012–13 Ghana Premier League season.

He later served as the assistant coach to Hans van der Pluijm from 2013 to 2015.

In November 2015, he was promoted to the position of technical director for the club, serving in that role from 2015 to 2017.

He served as interim coach after Tom Strand left the club, and later doubled as head coach of the club and technical director from 2016 to 2017, especially during the 2017 Ghana Premier League.

During his 4-year period with the club as interim head coach, assistant coach and technical director, he helped the club to win two Ghana FA Cups in 2013 and 2015 and the Ghana Super Cup in 2016.

It was the first time in 47 years that a team from the Western part of the country had laid hands on a league title, with the last club to do so being Sekondi Hasaacas in the 1976/77 season.

The Tarkwa-based side Medeama SC broke the jinx after securing 60 points to clinch the BetPawa Premier League title for the first time in their history.

In 34 rounds of matches, the Mauve & Yellows recorded 18 wins, 6 draws and 10 losses.

Medeama won 3-0 against Tamale City FC in the season’s final game at the Tarkwa Akoon Park.

An early goal from Joshua Agyemang and a brace from Jonathan Sowah were enough to hand Medeama the victory and their historic league triumph.

Medeama ended the season 5 points above second-placed Aduana FC, and 6 points above third-placed Bechem United, with Asante Kotoko placing fourth in the 2022/23 season.

By virtue of their success in the domestic season and some impressive performances in the preliminary rounds, they earned the right to represent Ghana in the group stages of the CAF Champions League, the first time a Ghanaian side has made it to that stage in 11 years.

The last club to do so were Berekum Chelsea.

Ever since then, clubs from Ghana have struggled to break through to the prestigious money zone.

Ghana’s two top teams – Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak have had attempts but failed to reach that stage in recent years.

The most recent was Kotoko’s capitulation against the Burkinabe side, Rail Club de Kadiogo. The Porcupine Warriors had failed again to make it to the money zone of the competition in the 2022/23 season.

It is Medeama’s turn now, to change the lasting narrative of the consistent failures of Ghanaian clubs.

That will be difficult for them, rightly so, because of the group in which they find themselves after the draw conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday.

Medeama were pitted against Al Ahly, defending & 11-time Champions of the competition, CR Belouizdad, who are Algerian Champions and as Tanzanian Champions, Young Africans, also known as Yanga SC.

With all these clubs being powerhouses in African Football. Medeama does face a daunting task to make it out of the group.

All three opponents would send some shivers down the spine of anyone abreast with the history of these 3 clubs and any follower of the CAF Inter-Club Competitions.

I did some digging on these clubs.

First off, Al-Ahly.

They are the most decorated club in Africa and can conceivably be compared with Spanish giants, Real Madrid in terms of success.

Current Champions of the CAF Champions League, and 11-time Champions overall, no other club has won it more than them.

Al Ahly is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest league in the Egyptian football league system.

The club is renowned for its consistent success at both domestic and continental levels, regularly contending in CAF tournaments.

Founded on 24 April 1907 as a gathering place for Cairo’s Student Unions, Al Ahly has a record of 43 Egyptian Premier League titles, 38 Egypt Cup titles and 13 Egyptian Super Cups.

In international competitions, the club has won a record 11 CAF Champions League titles, 1 CAF Confederation Cup, a record of 8 CAF Super Cups, a record of 4 African Cup Winners’ Cups, 1 Afro-Asian Club Championship, 1 Arab Club Champions Cup, 1 Arab Cup Winners’ Cup, a record of 2 Arab Super Cups, and has won 3 bronze medals in the FIFA Club World Cup.

With 25 official continental titles. Al Ahly was voted by the CAF as the African club of the 20th century.

Impressive, right?

The two legs between Medeama and Al Ahly are the closest we might get to a David vs Goliath encounter in the group stage this season.

Al Ahly used to play their home games at their own ground, Mokhtar El Tetsh Stadium, but its capacity was too small for the club’s supporters.

As a way of solving the issue, Mokhtar El Tetsh Stadium became the official training ground, and the Cairo International Stadium replaced it as the official home ground.

From 2014 to 2017, Al Ahly stopped playing their home games at the Cairo International Stadium due to security reasons.

In the 2016–17 season, Al Ahly played most of their home games at the Al Salam Stadium and played their matches in the African competitions at the Borg El Arab Stadium.

In the first leg of the Egyptian Premier League’s 2017–18 season, Al Ahly returned to Cairo International Stadium as their official home ground.

Medeama SC will head to the Cairo International Stadium for their away fixture, a ground which can be very intimidating and a hostile atmosphere always created by the home fans.

It is a hybrid pitch.

The Cairo International Stadium hosted many matches in the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations including the final in which Egypt beat Ivory Coast 4–2 in penalty shootouts after a 0–0 draw in extra time.

Last season in the CAF Champions League, Al Ahly were alternating between the Cairo International Stadium & the Al Ahly WE AL Salam Stadium.

The Egyptian side won two of their home games, against Coton Sports de Garoua from Cameroon and Al-Hilal from Sudan, only Mamelodi Sundowns managed a draw at Al-Ahly’s home grounds.

The Egyptians are not good travellers, they lost heavily to Mamelodi Sundowns by 5 goals to 2, lost to Al-Hilal by a lone goal and redeemed themselves with a 4-0 thrashing of Coton Sport in Cameroon.

Medeama SC must look to create a hostile atmosphere in Tarkwa when the Egyptians come to visit the new Tarkwa T&A Park which will be opened come November.

Al-Ahly has shown per the stats [85% win ratio] at home, that they are a dominant force when playing at home.

Second is, Algerian Champions – CR Belouizdad

They are an Algerian football club based in Algiers, that plays in the Ligue Professionnelle 1, the top flight of Algerian football.

The club has competed in the top division for a record 55 seasons (playing just one season in the second tier in 1988–1989).

They have never won the CAF Champions League.

They first competed in Africa’s elite competition in 2001, exiting in the group stage with just a point, a group that had Al-Ahly, Petro Atletico & ASEC Mimosas.

In 2002, they made a second appearance at the competition but exited again in the first round.

CR Beloiuzdad have struggled since 2002 to qualify for the CAF Champions League, with their absence stretching to an 18-year exile from the competition.

The Algerian side broke the jinx in the 2020/21 season, by making it to the CAFCL, this time they made it all the way to the quarter-finals where they lost to Esperance de Tunis from Tunisia.

Their run continued in the subsequent season, as they reached the quarters again, this time losing to Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca.

Last season, they made another appearance, reaching the QFs once more, only falling to South African side Mamelodi Sundowns.

Certainly, another tough opponent for Medeama to face.

Belouizdad has also shown itself to be a poor away performer. Last season, they lost to Zamalek [away], lost to Al-Merrikh [away] and managed a [goalless draw] against Esperance de Tunis.

Then again, Medeama can pick huge points off the Algerians when they visit Tarkwa come November.

Finally – to Tanzania

Champions of the Tanzanian league- Yanga FC

Young Africans, commonly referred to as Yanga, is a Tanzanian professional football club based at the Jangwani ward of Ilala District in Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania.

Founded in 1935, the club play their home games at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in the Miburani ward of Temeke District.

Nicknamed Yanga Timu ya Wananchi, the club has won 29 Tanzanian Premier League titles and a number of domestic cups and has participated in multiple CAF Champions League editions.

The last time they progressed to the money zone or the group stage of the CAF Champions League was as far back as 1998.

In that year, they reached the Quarterfinals of the competition. Ever since it has been either a first-round exit or a second-round exit.

They broke the jinx this year by qualifying for the money zone.

Medeama probably could fancy their chances against Yanga SC as they aren’t too experienced in the CAF Champions League, but it will be difficult nonetheless.

In all this Champions League football comes to the new T& N Park which will be commissioned in November.

It is a 10,000-capacity Stadium, and it is expected to make the most of that capacity with everyone eagerly excited to see Al-Ahly, CR Beluiozdad & Yanga SC make trips to Tarkwa.

Medeama SC will travel to Egypt first to face Al-Ahly on the 24-25 November, before welcoming CR Beliouzdad to Tarkwa on December 1-2, then Young Africans again at home on December 8-9, make an away trip to Dar es Salaam at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.

On 23-24 February, they take on Al-Ahly here in Ghana, then a final trip to Algeria to face CR Belouizdad.

Reigning champions, Al Ahly SC will headline Group D consisting of Algeria’s CR Belouizdad for a mouth-watering North-African derby, Tanzania’s Young Africans who finished second in the CAF Confederation Cup as well as Ghana’s Medeama Sporting Club who will be looking at causing major upsets in the group.