Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko have qualified from the preliminary round of the 2018/19 Caf Confederation Cup without kicking a ball.
This was after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) confirmed Saturday that “Matches 37&38” of the recently held draw “are cancelled.”
The Porcupine Warriors had been drawn to face Cameroonian FA Cup champions, who with just four days to the first leg fixture in Kumasi, were yet to be determined by their Football Association (Fecafoot).
In the announcement via social its official Twitter handle, Caf explained that it declared Kotoko winners of the tie due to Facafoot’s failure to meet a given deadline in confirming the team to engage the Ghanaian side.
ℹ: Matches #37&38 are cancelled, because the deadline for @FecafootOfficie 🇨🇲 to confirm the engagement of second rep. for Total CAF Confederation Cup has elapsed. Asante Kotoko 🇬🇭 is therefore qualified to the 1/16th round.#TotalCAFCC
— CAF (@CAF_Online) November 24, 2018
As a result, Asante Kotoko will now have to successfully clear just one two-legged hurdle in the 1/16th round in order to make it into the group stage of the Confederation Cup.
The 2016/17 MTN FA Cup holders could be facing one of Kenya’s Kairobangi Sharks FC or Arta Solar7 of Djibouti who are scheduled to play each other in the prelims next week.
In meeting the winner, Asante Kotoko will go away first before completing the tie at home on December 23.
The aggregate winner qualifies for the group stage (famously called Money Zone) of the 2018/19 Caf Confederation Cup.
