Nairobi United coach Salim Ali is confident as the Kenyan Premier League side hosts Congolese outfit AS Maniema Union in the second outing of the 2025/26 CAF Confederation Cup Group B at the Kasarani Stadium on Sunday, November 30, 2025, starting at 4:00 pm local time.

The hosts will be entering the fixture after suffering a heavy 3-0 defeat to Moroccan giants Wydad Casablanca in their opening fixture on Sunday, November 23, 2025, at Stade Mohammed V stadium. On the other hand, AS Maniema started the campaign on a winning note by beating AZAM FC of Tanzania 2-0 to go second in Group B.

On Saturday, November 29, 2025, Wydad beat AZAM FC in Zanzibar 1-0 to take a commanding lead in the group with six points in two matches, piling more pressure on both AS Maniema and Nairobi United ahead of their Sunday meeting.

What coaches said

Salim Ali – Nairobi United Coach

“This is our first home game in the group stages, and we are excited for it. We are playing at home, and that is a huge motivation for us. The fans have been amazing since when we won the Cup and into our first match against NEC, and we expect them to play a part as well,” Ali said.

Yes, we lost the first game against Wydad, but in football, sometimes you have to look beyond the result. There were many positives picked against one of the best teams in Africa, and it is that which we want to bring into the game tomorrow.”

Enock Machaka – Nairobi United Player

“It is a huge honour to play a competitive CAF game at home and be the first Kenyan club at this stage in the last seven years. It will not be an easy match for sure because we respect Maniema, and we know they are a quality opponent.”

“Our ambition is one: pick the lessons from last weekend’s defeat against Wydad and improve in this match. We have identified areas we can improve, especially in terms of possession and making our chances count.”

”We are coming into this match with a bit of confidence from the win we had last weekend at home. Despite the fact that they are a new team in the competition, they have shown that they can compete.”

“They picked a result against Etoile du Sahel, which is a strong North African team, and this shows they are no pushovers,” AS Maniema Union coach Papy Kimoto Okitankoyi said.

”In this day and age, technology has allowed us to do more research, and we know what to expect from them. Our ambition coming here is to achieve a good result. It would be great if we won, but even if we get a draw away from home, then it is still a good result for us.”