The winner of November's Champions League final will go to Japan in December to represent Africa against their counterparts from the five other continents.

The final of the Champions League has been brought forward by a month to allow Africa's representative time to prepare for the tournament in Japan.

But as most of the favoured contenders have byes into the next round in March the winners are unlikely to emerge from the first round, first leg matches being played from Friday to Sunday.

The Confederation Cup also gets underway for a second year after a disappointing debut during which several clubs reneged on television contracts and the promised money from a share of marketing and television rights was not decided until the event was almost complete.

The competition is an amalgamation of the African Cup Winners' and the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Cup, which were halted after 2003.

It was designed to creative further financial incentives for African clubs as entries in the Caf competitions continue to dwindle because of the high cost of travel on the continent.

ZANZIBAR DEBUT

This year more than 10 of Caf's member countries have failed to enter in the two events, although Zanzibar are competing for the first time.

The semi-autonomous island forms part of Tanzania but has been given affiliate status by CAF.

Their first Champions League representative KMKM are taking a tortuous 1400 km road trip for a match in Nairobi on Saturday, where they play Tusker FC.

Kampala City Council of Uganda are headed in the other direction by bus too for a match against Kipanga in Zanzibar in the Confederation Cup.

Uganda's New Vision newspaper reported this week that the cash-strapped club almost missed their bus trip because they did not have any money for the fare. One of the players eventually stomped up enough cash for them to get on the road.

The Champions League will play three knockout rounds before the last eight clubs go into a league competition, starting in June.

The Confederation Cup has four knockout rounds before whittling its entrants down to eight, who then also compete in a league competition, which stars in August.