Florent Abenge sets a record with Al-Hilal of Sudan
Congolese Coach Florent Abegue led his team Al-Hilal to the group stage of the African Champions League, after defeating its guest San Pedro of Ivory Coast with a goal by Mohamed Abdel-Rahman on Sunday, September 22, at the Cheikhou Bedia Stadium in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
Congolese Abegue achieved a record with his team Al-Hilal, as he became the first coach in the club’s history to reach the group stage of the African Champions League in 3 consecutive editions.
The former coach, who won the Confederation Cup title with Nahdat Berkane, led his current team Al-Hilal to attend the group stage of the African Championship in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 editions, and then the current 2024-25 edition as the Congolese overcame extremely complicated circumstances, with the suspension of local competitions following a bloody war that broke out in the country in mid-April of last year.
The Sudanese leader’s coach has recently faced severe criticism after failing to win the East and Central Africa Regional Championship, and the club’s administration renewed confidence in the coach before the group stage, urging him to perform well during the preliminary and qualifying matches to continue achieving successes in the near future.
The Blue Wave’s qualification for the African Champions League group stage gave a lifeline to the Congolese, who was haunted by the specter of dismissal in the event of failure to win the qualification card. Before he was able to eliminate Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya in the first preliminary round and eliminate San Pedro of Ivory Coast in the second preliminary round and qualify at his expense, giving his team’s fans great joy, by playing with the giants of the African continent again.
Al-Hilal achieved a record number of participation in the group stage compared to Sudanese clubs, by appearing in 14 editions, 9 of which were consecutive, so that its appearance in the next edition will be a regular event for its fans, who are anticipating that the team will advance far in the current edition of the tournament.