Confederation Cup: Mbabane Swallows beat former winners AC Leopards

The group stage of the Confederation Cup has expanded from eight teams to 16 this year

Mbabane Swallows pulled off a famous comeback against Congolese side AC Leopards on Saturday to become the first club from Swaziland to reach the group phase of the African Confederation Cup.

Leopards, who won the trophy in 2012, went into the second leg of the play-off in Lombamba leading 1-0 from their home leg.

But Swallows, who went further behind in front of their home fans, fought back to win 4-2 on the day and secure a famous 4-3 aggregate win.

Banele Sikhondze scored the tie-deciding goal two minutes into stoppage time, creating history for his club and country.

Also on Saturday, Uganda's KCCA beat Al Masry of Egypt 4-3 on penalties in Ismailia as they became the first Ugandan club to reach the group stage of an African continental competition.

Masry levelled the aggregate score with a goal on home soil to make it 1-1 overall, before KCCA's win on penalties.

Another East African side did not fare as well as KCCA, as Young Africans of Tanzania - who edged Mouloudia Alger of Algeria in Dar es Salaam in the first leg - fell to a 4-0 defeat in Algiers, with Mouloudia winning 4-1 overall.

In other results, Zesco United of Zambia, surprise 2016 Champions League semi-finalists, made the most of home advantage against Enugu Rangers of Nigeria to win 3-0 on the day, 5-2 on aggregate.

Other sides progressing to the Confederation Cup's group phase on Saturday were Angola's Recreativo Libolo, Tunisia's Club Africain, Morocco's FUS Rabat,Smouha of Egypt and Guinea's Horoya.

Confederation Cup fixtures:

First leg:

Sunday:

• Rivers Utd (Nigeria) v Rayon Sports (Rwanda) (Delayed due to commemoration of the Rwanda genocide)

Second legs:

Friday:

• CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) 2-0 Rail Kadiogo (Burkina Faso) (CS Sfaxien win 4-1 on aggregate)

Saturday:

• Mbabane Swallows (Swaziland) 4-2 AC Leopards (Congo) (Mbabane Swallows win 4-3 on aggregate)

• Zesco Utd (Zambia) 3-0 Enugu Rangers (Nigeria) (Zesco United win 5-2 on aggregate)

• Recreativo Libolo (Angola) 0-0 CNaPS Sport (Madagascar) (1-1 on aggregate. Recreativo Libolo win on away goals)

• Club Africain (Tunisia) 4-2 AS Port Louis (Mauritius) (Club Africain win 6-3 on aggregate)

• MAS Fes (Morocco) 1-1 FUS Rabat (Morocco) (FUS Rabat win 3-2 on aggregate)

• Smouha (Egypt) 1-0 Wits (South Africa) (Smouha win 1-0 on aggregate)

• Mouloudia Alger (Algeria) 4-0 Young Africans (Tanzania) (Mouloudia Alger win 4-1 on aggregate)

• Al Masry (Egypt) v KCCA (Uganda) (1-1 on aggregate. KCCA win 5-4 on penalties)

• Ittihad Tanger (Morocco) 3-2 Horoya (Guniea) (Horoya win 4-3 on aggregate)

Sunday:

• Platinum Stars (South Africa) v AS Tanda (Ivory Coast) (0-2)

• Asec Mimosas (Ivory Coast) v CF Mounana (Gabon) (1-2)

• SuperSport Utd (South Africa) v Barrack Young Controllers (Liberia) (1-1)

• JS Kabylie (Algeria) v TP Mazembe (DR Congo) (0-2)

• Al Hilal Obeid (Sudan) v Ports Authority (The Gambia) (1-1)

CS Sfaxien of Tunisia became the first team to reach the newly expanded group phase of the African Confederation Cup with a 2-0 win over Rail Kadiogo of Burkina Faso on Friday.

The result in Sfax gave Sfaxien, three-times former winners of the Confederation Cup, a 4-1 aggregate win in the second leg of their play-off.

Goals from Maher Hannachi and Karim Aouadhi sealed the victory for the Tunisian side.

On Sunday, JS Kabylie of Algeria are aiming to overturn a 2-0 deficit when they host Confederation Cup holders TP Mazembe of the DR Congo.

The Algerians will be looking to striker Mohamed Boulaouidet who has rescued his club in two earlier qualifying victories.

He scored twice in a 4-0 preliminary-round rout of Liberians Monrovia Club Breweries that overturned a shock three-goal first-leg loss in west Africa.

Then in the last-32 against Etoile of Congo Brazzaville, he snatched the only goal of the tie in the final minute of the match.

For the second successive season, Mazembe failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage and were demoted to Africa's second tier competition.

The Congolese boast a multi-national squad and Zambia midfielder Nathan Sinkala and Mali centre-back Salif Coulibaly scored against Kabylie in Lubumbashi.