Having beaten APR of Rwanda 4-3 on aggregate, Gor Mahia will now face off with Algerian representatives Chabab Riadhi de Belouizdad. The first leg will be played during the week of December 22.
The reigning Algerian champions beat Al Nasr of Libya, 4-0 on aggregate, winning both home and away legs by a score of 2-0.
The Libyan side were at a huge disadvantage. Firstly there has not been an active Libyan league for two seasons due to the civil war.
Thus the Libyans were short on match practice. Secondly the Libyans had to play their home leg away in Cairo, Egypt rather than in their home-ground of Benghazi.
The goals in Cairo were scored by Algerian Shaib Kaddad while the second goal was an own goal by an Al Nasr player.
CR Belouizidad are based in the Belouizidad section of Algiers and play their home games in the Stade 20 Août 1955.
CR Belouizidad were declared champions of the 2019-2020 seasons when the Algerian league was suspended due to Covid 19.
At the time, they were leading the league with 40 points from 11 wins, 7 draws, and 3 losses. Their most famous win a 3-0 victory over perennial giants JS Kabylie. It was their 7th Algerian league title with the previous one having to come in the year 2000.
Their squad comprises entirely of Algerians with the exceptions being Benin international Marcellin Koukpo and Belgian international Maecky Ngombo.
The first time faced off with an Algerian side, it was under coach Dylan Kerr in May 2018. They recorded a 0-0 draw in Nairobi before losing 2-1 in Algiers.
In February 2019 under Hassan Oktay, Gor Mahia recorded a memorable 2-0 win over NA Hussein Dey before losing controversially 1-0 in Algiers.
The last encounter with an Algerian side was a disaster. In September 2019, Gor Mahia went down 4-1 to USM Alger in Algiers before losing 2-0 in Nairobi to USM Alger.
