After successfully leading our team to the second round of the CAF Champions League preliminary by defeating Medina United from Gambia, head coach Amidu Karim now faces a good challenge trying to outsmart RS Berkane’s Bubista.

The two coaches previously met in Abidjan in a CAF symposium in 2024, little knowing they would one day find themselves on opposite sides in continental competition.

Bubista recently took the reins at Berkane after inspiring Cape Verde to a remarkable World Cup run in the United States.

Friendship will take a back seat as Star Academy coach Amidu Karim faces friend Pedro Leitão Brito, better known as Bubista, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League on Saturday.

With personal ties set aside, both tacticians will be eager to gain the upper hand and secure an advantage ahead of the return leg, as their friendship gives way to competitive ambition on the continental stage.

“This is not the first time I will be facing their head coach, as we’ve met previously during a CAF symposium where we shared ideology on the situation around coaching national teams in Africa, the difficult task and the sacrifices,” Amidu Karim recalls.

“He’s a very experienced coach; we all see what he did with the Cape Verde national team, but on Saturday it’s going to be a different match because we are ready to face them.”

Karim, during his playing days was part of the Sierra Leone squad during the 1994 and 1996 African Cup of Nations.

The Moroccans have arrived safely and have already wrapped up their first training session at the SKD as they prepare for Saturday’s match.