Article Summary
- TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup Prize money gets an Increase
- Rivers Utd is set to get USD 550000
Nigeria Premier Football League side, Rivers United is set to be rewarded with 550 thousand US Dollars having reached the Quarter Finals of the 2nd tier CAF Inter-club competition, TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.
CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe, earlier in the year announced a new prize money structure for TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.
The announcement saw prize monies for the two competitions increase by 40% in line with President Motsepe’s commitment to make African football competitions globally competitive and self-sustaining.
For the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, the winner will get USD 4 000 000 – an increase from the USD 2 500 000, while for the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup, the prize money for the winner has increased from USD 1,250,000 to USD 2 000 000.
Rivers Utd would earn 550000 USD having reached the Quarter finals of the competition.
The total breakdown of how the money will be shared for the Confederation Cup:
Rivers Utd Journey in The TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup 2022-23
Rivers United made it to the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for this season having dropped from the top tier competition, the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
Rivers United qualified for the CAF Champions League having won the 2021-22 Nigeria Premier Football League title. Their title win last season was their first since the club was formed.
Rivers Utd had to scale through two preliminary rounds if they were to play in the Group stages of the Champions League.
In the first round, they edged Watanga Fc of Liberia 4 – 0 on aggregate score to move into the next round where they clashed against giants Wydad Athletic Club.
The second round clash against Wydad Athletic club ended grusomely for the Nigerian Champions who were annihalated 7 – 2 on aggregate score.
This loss saw Rivers Utd drop out of the Champions League into the Confederation Cup.
To make the group stage of the Confederation Cup, they had to see off Al Nasr of Libya 6 – 1 on aggregate score to make the group stages.
They were drawn in Group B Alongside, ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast), Diable Noirs (Congo Brazzaville), Motema Pembe (Dr Congo). They finished 2nd in the group with 10 points and set up a Quarter-Final clash against Young Africans of Tanzania.
Their Journey ended having lost 2-0 on aggregate score to Young Africans.
Rivers United NPFL Title Defence Run
Rivers United look on course to retain the title they won last season. Due to some reasons, the NPFL this season couldn’t be a full 38-game season, but had to be an abridged one which had 20 teams divided into two groups.
To decide who wins the Championship this season, six teams would jostle in Lagos in the super six playoffs. The top 3 teams from each group make it.
On Sunday evening, all six teams were confirmed as the season reached its end. Rivers Utd were joined alongside, Lobi Stars, Sunshine Stars, Bendel Insurance, Remo Stars & Enyimba Fc as the teams to make the super six.
Rivers Utd in their group finished first with 34 points, losing just two games all through 18 games. They won 9 games and drew 7 to secure top spot in group B, Lobi Stars finished 2nd with 30 points in the group, with Sunshine Stars finishing 3rd with 27 points.
In the other group, A, Bendel Insurance finished with 34 points as first, maintaining an unbeaten record of 18 games throughout the season. They won 8 games and drew 10, Remo Stars finished 2nd with 33 points, and Enyimba was 3rd with 32 points.
Of all the teams who would participate in the playoffs, Rivers Utd undoubtedly look the strongest, and they would fancy their chances of defending the title and also qualifying for the Champions League.
The winner and runner up of the super six playoffs automatically gets the Champions League qualification, while the 2nd runner up and winner of the FA Cup gets the Confederation Cup qualification.
The super six playoffs is scheduled for June 3rd – June 11th, 2023 at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, in Lagos.