Etoile Sahel Book CAF Cup Group Place Despite Defeat

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Etoile Sahel of Tunisia secured a CAF Confederation Cup group place Friday despite losing 1-0 away to Stade Abidjan of the Ivory Coast in a round-of-32 second leg.

The club from the Tunisian Mediterranean resort of Sousse qualified 3-1 on aggregate having built a three-goal advantage from the first leg at home last weekend.

Ordinarily, the victory for Etoile would have secured them a place in the playoff phase of the second-tier African competition against a CAF Champions League round-of-30 loser.

But because there will be 16 CAF Confederation Cup round-of-32 winners and only 15 Champions League round-of-30 losers, Etoile received a bye based on Confederation Cup rankings.

Etoile are the only club to have won all five current and past CAF club competitions, including the Confederation Cup twice, in 2006 and 2015.

Stade went ahead in the return match after 50 minutes when Soumaila Bagayoko scored, but hopes of a dramatic second-leg comeback by the Ivorian club failed to materialise.

Petro Atletico of Angola maintained a 100 percent record this season in the competition when they won 1-0 at home against AS Nyuki of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Luanda club won by the same score in Kinshasa last weekend, giving them a 2-0 overall victory and a place in the play-offs draw on December 28.

Tiago Azulao scored the only second-leg goal midway through the second half for Petro, who defeated Orapa United of Botswana home and away in the preliminary round.