Kenyan league champions Gor Mahia arrived in Algeria on Friday (December 25) for their delayed African Champions League first-round match against CR Belouizdad.
The match was originally set to be played on December 22 but the Kenyan team’s travel plans to enter Algeria since last Sunday were hampered by intensified Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the Algerian government on foreign arrivals.
Gor Mahia had to seek authorisation from the Algerian embassy in Nairobi to be allowed to land in Algiers on a Qatar Airlines flight.
“We are happy that the team has safely landed in Algiers ready for the match on Saturday night. The uncertainty of whether we would honour the match due to the restrictive travel connections to Algeria are over,” said Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier.
Gor Mahia overcame Rwandan champions APR 4-3 on aggregate in the preliminary round in November to reach the first of the African Champions League.
The return match will be play in Nairobi on January 3.
The Nairobi club is Kenya’s only team to win a CAF competition, the 1987 edition of the now defunct African Cup Winners Cup.
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© Agence France-Presse
