Berkane's rise continues in CAF Champions League

The Moroccan champions might be competition debutants but they are right among the favourites for this season's continental trophy

- By MARK GLEESON

Five newcomers in the group phase of the 2025-26 African Champions League make for something of a refreshing look to what had become an all too familiar lineup, and one of those debutants is among the competition favourites.

Morocco's Renaissance Berkane have won the African Confederation Cup three times in the previous six seasons but, having never won their domestic title before romping to the championship in April, had never qualified for the top competition.

CAF installed them as one of the four top seeds for the group-phase draw, lining up in Group A with holders Pyramids, Power Dynamos (Zambia) and Rivers United (Nigeria).

That effectively means three group-phase newcomers in a single group along with Egypt's Pyramids, who defeated Berkane 1-0 in the African Super Cup in October.

Berkane's former president is the all-powerful Morocco FA president Fouzi Lekjaa, who also sits on the FIFA Council, CAF executive committee, and is organising the 2030 World Cup. He has constructed a state-of-the-art facility and academy in the provincial town near the Algerian border and helped turn Berkane into potential continental champions just over a decade after they won promotion to the top flight in Morocco in 2012.