Riffa kick off AFC Cup against Lebanon’s Nejmeh

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Riffa Club will open their campaign in the 2023/2024 AFC Cup against Nejmeh SC of Lebanon.

The schedule for the group stage has been released by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) following the completion of the tournament draw.

Riffa and Nejmeh are in Group C for the preliminary round along with Al Zawraa of Iraq and Al Arabi of Kuwait.

Riff travel to Beirut for their first fixture on 18 September.

They then host Al Zawraa at home on 2 October, before flying to Kuwait City to take on Arabi on 23 October.

Their next two matches will then be in Bahrain against Arabi on 6 November and Nejmeh on 27 November.

They then complete their group campaign on 12 December away at Zawraa.

The AFC Cup is the annual continental club competition of the AFC for top teams not competing in the AFC Champions League.

A total of 36 participating teams were divided into nine groups across the five AFC zones.

The West zone teams are in Groups A, B and C. Group A features Al Ahed FC of Lebanon, Al Futuwa of Syria, Jabal Al Mukaber Club of Palestine and Al Nahda of Oman.

Group B comprises Al Wehdat of Jordan, Kuwait SC of Kuwait, Al Kahrbaa SC of Iraq and Al Ittihad Al Ahli of Aleppo from Syria.

The three group winners and best runners-up advance to the zonal semi-finals, which are set for February of next year.

The zonal finals will take place in April, while the inter-zone play-off semis are scheduled for March and the inter-zone play-off final also for April.

The AFC Cup final will be played in May. Riffa are the lone Bahraini representatives in this year’s competition.

They qualified being the national league champions from the 2021/2022 season.