Kabylie accept underdog role as Zinnbauer salutes Group B heavyweights
JS Kabylie head coach Josef Zinnbauer has welcomed a daunting TotalEnergies CAF Champions League group with a dose of realism and resolve, conceding his side are outsiders but insisting the experience will harden his team for the campaign ahead.
The German says Group B is one of the competition’s toughest on pedigree and resources, yet believes Kabylie can travel light on pressure and grow into the tournament.
He set the tone by stressing the calibre of opposition. “I think we’ve landed in one of the most difficult groups – the opponents are big, big teams,” Zinnbauer said, adding that in this competition “every club in the Champions League is a big club.”
Record 12-time winners Al Ahly headline the pool alongside Tanzanian champions Young Africans and Moroccan title-holders AS FAR, with two group matchdays scheduled before the AFCON pause and the section concluding in mid-February.
Zinnbauer was unequivocal about the favourites.
“Al Ahly are the top favourites, we all know that,” he noted, before tipping the other rivals as elite too. “AS FAR and Young Africans are among Africa’s big teams – and they have big budgets.”
Even so, the Kabylie boss framed the campaign as a priceless learning curve. “You can’t buy this kind of experience,” he said.
“We’ve worked a lot to build on the experience we do have, and the club is here on merit.”
That perspective fuels a low-pressure mindset. “We go into this with a good feeling and without pressure,” he explained.
“Maybe we’re not the favourites in this group – maybe even the last in the pecking order when you compare recent years, because the others have been in the Champions League regularly. We haven’t.”
Kabylie, two-time African champions, last reached the Champions League final in 1996 but remain a club with deep continental heritage and one of North Africa’s most fervent fan bases.
Zinnbauer believes that identity, combined with a clear structure, can make Kabylie obstinate opponents home and away.
“We’re happy to be back in the Champions League,” he said. “It’s a difficult league, but testing ourselves against different, top-level opposition is exactly why we’re here.”
JS Kabylie’s fixtures (Group B)
MD1: 21–23 Nov 2025 – Al Ahly v JS Kabylie; Young Africans v AS FAR
MD2: 28–30 Nov 2025 – AS FAR v Al Ahly; JS Kabylie v Young Africans
MD3: 23–25 Jan 2026 – JS Kabylie v AS FAR; Al Ahly v Young Africans
MD4: 30 Jan–1 Feb 2026 – AS FAR v JS Kabylie; Young Africans v Al Ahly
MD5: 6–8 Feb 2026 – JS Kabylie v Al Ahly; AS FAR v Young Africans
MD6: 13–15 Feb 2026 – Al Ahly v AS FAR; Young Africans v JS Kabylie