Alex Song used to play for marquee European clubs Arsenal and Barcelona. Now, he is preparing to line up with Arta Solar 7 of Djibouti in the CAF Confederation Cup.
It will be a tall order for the 33-year-old Cameroonian as the team from the tiny Horn of Africa nation set to play “Al Mokawloon Al Arab”(formerly Arab Contractors) in the preliminary round draw in Cairo Monday.
While success in Africa has eluded the Cairo outfit of late, they won the now defunct African Winners Cup three times between 1982 and 1996.
Mokawloon qualified by finishing fourth behind African giants Al Ahly and Zamalek and 2020 Confederation Cup runners-up Pyramids in the Egyptian Premier League.
The route to Africa for Arta was less daunting as they lifted the FA Cup in Djibouti, a country ranked 51st in Africa and 185th in the world.
This will be their third consecutive Confederation Cup appearance with a heavy defeat by Kariobangi Stars of Kenya in 2018 followed by a better showing when going down to Al Khartoum of Sudan.
If Arta eliminate Mokawloon, they would face an even bigger obstacle in continental giants Etoile Sahel from Tunisia.
“Etoile” are the only club to have won all five current and now defunct CAF competitions — the Champions League, Confederation Cup, Super Cup, African Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup.
Apart from playing for the senior team, Song will supervise youth development at Solar during his two-year contract.
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