Zamalek crowned CAF Confederations Cup champions

Egyptian giants Zamalek S.C has been named 2018 - 19 CAF Confederations cup winners for the first time after a 5 - 4 penalty shootout against Moroccan side Renaissance Sportive de Berkane (RS. Berkane).

The Total CAF Confederations cup final ended with a 1 - 0 victory to home side Zamalek at the Borg Arab stadium outside Egypt's second biggest city Alexandria just like it had ended in the first leg in favour of RS. Berkana last weekend in Rabat.

RS Berkane came in to the second leg encounter holding a 1-0 advantage from the first leg, the only goal that was scored by Togolese Kodjo Fo-Doh Labo but "the oranges" got disapointed in the 8th minute of the second half after the referee returned to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to then award a penalty to Zamalek which was converted by defender Mahmoud Alaa into the net to give lead and level on aggregate.

With the game getting stretched in the closing stages, tensions were rising, RS Berkana midfielder Namsaoui Omar got sent off the pitch for foul play on Mahmoud Abdel with the incident reviewed by the referee on the VAR monitor but they managed to hold on till the last whistle.

After 90 minutes of play with both sides clinging on a 1- 1 score line which hence forth subjected them to tussle it out in the spot kicks since their is no extra time in the CAF confederations cup.

Hamdy Laachir missed the first spot kick for the Oranges whilst the white knights had five of theirs into the back of the net to win their first CAF confederations cup to end their 16 years quest for an African cup. Since they last won the CAF Super cup in 2003 after defeating Moroccan outfit Wydad Athletic club.

RS Berkana made their first ever final in the history of Africa club competitions whilst Zamalek sporting club bagged their 10th Africa clubs trophy adding on the 3 CAF super cup, 5 CAF champions League and One defunct cups winner's cup.

Zamalek received a whopping $1.25 million while RS Berkane walked away with $625,000.

The white nights will wait next weekend to know their opponent in the 2019 CAF Super cup from 2018 - 19 CAF Champions League final between Tunisia Esperance and Morocco's Wydad Casablanca with the first leg that ended in a draw 1 - 1.

The winner of the Champions League will walk away with USD 2.5m while the runners-up will get USD 1.25m.