Friday, September 19, 2025
Athlone Stadium, Cape Town | 7PM
Uganda Premier League champions Vipers SC embark on their 2025/26 CAF Champions League quest this Friday evening with a tricky preliminary round first leg clash against Namibia’s African Stars at the iconic Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.
The Venoms, still basking in their domestic dominance, know all too well that continental football is a different beast, and head coach Jacky Ivan Minnaert, making his competitive debut, will be under the spotlight as he navigates his first real test in charge.
Minnaert’s 22-man traveling squad boasts six new faces, all eager to leave their footprint on the biggest stage of African club football.
The Belgian tactician will rely on a blend of youthful energy and seasoned heads as he chases a positive away result to set the stage for the return leg in Kampala next week.
All eyes will be on Allan Okello, last season’s Uganda Premier League golden boy, whose knack for goals and assists has already dazzled on both the CHAN and World Cup qualifying fronts.
Add in the deadly duo of Milton Karisa, who will captain the side, and Yunus Sentamu, and the Venoms suddenly have a strike force capable of troubling any defense on the continent.
Midfield general Taddeo Lwanga is expected to provide steel and structure at the heart of the park, while the ever-reliable Alfred Mudekereza is likely to don the gloves in a backline marshaled by Nicholas Wadada and Livingstone Mukundane.
For their part, African Stars are no pushovers. The Namibian giants, eight-time domestic champions, are making only their third appearance in the CAF Champions League but carry the ambition to upset established names.
Still, Vipers arrive with continental pedigree of their own, having famously reached the group stages in 2023 after eliminating heavyweights TP Mazembe.
The Venoms’ build-up has been intense, featuring competitive friendlies against Rwanda’s Gorilla FC and Rayon Sport, as well as Tanzania’s Azam FC, matches that have sharpened their claws for the Cape Town showdown.
⚽ Vipers Probable XI
Mudekereza (GK); Wadada, Ndahiro, Bady, Mukundane; Taddeo, Ssebagala, Watambala; Okello, Karisa (C), Yunus
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