Zamalek will face Tanzanian champions Young Africans in the CAF Champions League preliminary round as Ahli could get another date with Ethiopian Coffee. CAF announced the draw on Saturday, revealing that Zamalek will open their campaign in Dar es Salaam on February 17/18/19. In case they overcome Young Africans, the Whites will play the winner of the match between Ivory Coast's Africa Sports and Missile of Gabon in the first round. Young Africans played three times against Zamalek's arch-rivals Ahli in the Champions League knockouts, losing comprehensively to the six-time winners on all occasions. Coffee rematch? Egyptian champions Ahli, who have a bye in the preliminary round, will face the winner of the match between Coin Nord of Comoros and Ethiopian Coffee. Coffee were responsible for one of the biggest upsets in the Reds' history when they beat the Cairo giants with the away-goal rule in the preliminaries of the 1998 competition. Ahli were ousted from the group stages of last season's competition, whereas Zamalek failed to go beyond the first round after losing to Club Africain of Tunisia.
