As the African Champions League final first leg on November 2nd approaches, many of us barely know anything about Ahli's opponents Coton Sport of Cameroon. Unlike other African giants and Champions League holders Kotoko Asante of Ghana, ASEC Mimosas of the Ivory Coast, Canon Yaonde of Cameroon, Raja Casablanca of Moroccan, TP Mazembe and others, Coton Sport are not one of the continent's famous clubs. FilGoal.com takes a closer look at the side which took domestic football in Cameroon by storm over the last century. Unlike local clubs Canon and Tenere Yaonde, Coton are a newly-born club as they were only established in 1986. The club is located in Garoua, the capital of the North Province of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. The city has an estimated 490,000 inhabitants and is an important river port. Their home venue is the Garoua Omnisport Stadium which was built in 1978 and holds up to 35,000 fans. Rising in the Shadows of both Canon and Tenere, Coton only started showing their real worth in the late nineties. They won their first Cameroonian league title in 1997, and it proved to be the first of nine league trophies in the last 11 years. They also have an incredible record of five championships in the last five years. The club also won the Cameroon Cup in four occasions, the latest of which was on October 26th after a 4-2 win over Aigle Dschang. Coton participated in the African Confederations Cup on seven occasions. Their best achievement was losing the competition's final at the hands of Raja Casablanca in 2004. Sport participated eight times in the African Champions League, crashing out of the competition's first, second or third phase in no less than six occasions which proves that reaching this year's final is by far the club's best ever achievement. Cameroonian coach Alain Oumbleon Guedou is in charge of the first team and Pierre Kaptene is the club's president. Among a number of above average players, stands out attacking midfielder Baba Ousmalia who scored four times in the competition so far. With seven goals in this year's Champions League, Niger strike Daouda Kamilou can definitely pose a threat to Ahli defenders, as well as skipper Ahmadou Eboa Ngomna. In the first round of the Champions League, Coton beat Vital'O of Burundi 1-0 at home and 1-0 away. In the second round they eased past Nigerian side Gombe United 6-2 on aggregate. In the quarter final, they topped group B with ten points, one more than two-time champions Enyimba. The semi final was an easy affair for Coton, as they beat Dynamos Harare 1-0 in Zimbabwe, before thrashing their opponents 4-0 in the return leg. The Cameroonian Cchampions may not be one of Africa's most successful club, but their recent record proves they won't be pushovers when they meet Ahli as they would be determined to bring their country a first continental title in more than 20 years.
