Riffa to face Oman’s Nahda in AFC Cup zonal semis

TDT | Manama                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Riffa Club will be taking on Al Nahda of Oman in the West Zonal semi-finals of the 2023/2024 AFC Cup. Riffa booked their place in the contest after finishing as winners of Group C in the competition’s preliminary round.

Nahda, on the other hand, were the top-ranked squad from Group A. The Zonal semi-finals are scheduled to take place in February of next year. The other pairing in this stage pits Al Kahrabaa of Iraq against Al Ahed of Lebanon.

The winners will move on to the Zonal finals in April. There will also be Inter-zone play-off semi-finals in March and Inter-zone play-off finals in April for teams outside the West zone. That will set the stage for this season’s AFC Cup final, which is scheduled for May of next year.

The AFC Cup is the annual continental club competition of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the continent’s top teams not competing in the AFC Champions League. Riffa are the lone Bahraini outfit in this year’s tournament.

They wrapped up their group campaign on Tuesday with a tight 1-2 loss to Al Zawra’a of Iraq, who narrowly missed out on the West Zonal semis. Riffa are looking to become only the second Bahraini club to win the tournament title. Muharraq won the AFC Cup twice in the past, in 2008 and in 2021, and also finished as runners-up in 2006.