Rivers United crash out of CAF Champions League

September 14, 2026 12:03 am

Muthmainah Ishola

Rivers United have been eliminated from the CAF Champions League preliminary round after playing out a 2-2 draw with San Pedro of Ivory Coast at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Sunday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The 2025/26 Nigeria Premier Football League runners-up were knocked out on the away-goals rule after the two legs ended 3-3 on aggregate.

Rivers United had played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Ivory Coast last weekend but faced a difficult task at home in the return leg, falling two goals behind before staging a late comeback.

San Pedro stunned the home side by taking a 2-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes. The visitors opened the scoring in the 14th minute before doubling their advantage five minutes later to put Rivers United under severe pressure.

The Nigerian side responded before half-time, pulling a goal back in the 43rd minute to reduce the deficit to 2-1 at the break.

Rivers United continued to press for an equaliser after the restart, knowing another goal would keep their hopes of progressing alive.

Their persistence finally paid off in the 88th minute when they were awarded a penalty, which was converted to level the game at 2-2.

The late equaliser made it 3-3 on aggregate, but Rivers United were unable to find the goal that would have sent them through.

With the aggregate score level, San Pedro advanced on the away-goals rule, leaving Rivers United to suffer a painful early exit from the competition.

Their elimination leaves only NPFL champions Rangers International in the second round of the CAF Champions League preliminary round. Rangers will face Algerian side USM Alger in October.

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