Raja Casablanca will face JS Kabylie in the 2020/2021 CAF Confederation Cup final on Saturday 10 July 2021 at Stade de L’Amitie, General Mathieu Kerekou in Cotonou, Benin.
The 2018 Champions Raja Casablanca managed to reach the competition’s final after defeating Egypt’s Pyramids FC 5-4 on penalties (0-0 on aggregate) in the semi-finals.
The Green Eagles went into the two-legged semifinal as outright favorites to book their spot in the showpiece event but were almost bundled out of the competition by the Egyptians.
After a goalless score over 180 minutes of football, the game would be decided on penalties in Casablanca and after netting their first through Soufiane Rahimi, Ben Malango missed the hosts’ second.
The Moroccan giants became the sixth team in the continent to reach this stage of the competition multiple times since it began in 2004, after CS Sfaxien , Étoile du Sahel, TP Mazembe , FAR Rabat and RS Berkane.
JS Kabylie, meanwhile, showed their potency by crushing Cotonsport 3-0 in the first leg of their semifinal, having won away leg 2-1, suggesting they are a hard nut to crack.
The Algerians made light work of their opponents over two legs and victory on home soil secured a fourth win over Cotonsport for the Canaries in this season’s competition alone.
Kabylie are the third Algerian team to reach the CAF Confederation Cup final since its creation in 2004, after ES Sétif in 2009 and MO Bejaia in 2016. They could be the first country to have teams play in as many as three finals in the competition and never win one.
The Lions of Djurdjura, however, won the African Champions League in 1981 and 1990, the African Cup Winners Cup in 1995 and the Caf Cup three times in a row from 2000.
Raja Casablanca come into the match having conceded only one goal in the CAF Confederation Cup in 2020-21. However, they have failed to score in their last two competition’s games.
The Green Eagles won all six group matches this season without conceding and brushed aside South African club Orlando Pirates in the quarter-finals thanks largely to three goals from Ben Malango.
The CAF Confederation Cup is being in a mini-tournament format with final only taking place over one leg.
