When Orlando Pirates play their next match in a fortnight, it will come with the weight of providing what could probably define their season.
Pirates have a trip to Algiers, where they will find CR Belouizdad waiting as their campaign in Group C gets underway.
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What makes it a challenge is what comes with travelling to Algeria.
There are no direct flights to this city on the Mediterranean coast and this means travel is always via connecting flights to various destinations – mostly in Europe and Asia.
This then means traveling from OR Tambo to Houari Boumediene Airport becomes 20 hours at best and up to 46 hours at worst, depending on the itinerary.
Beyond that is the fact that international travel normally comes with arriving at the airport two hours before the flight, pushing player arrival at the team base from their respective homes as far back as five hours before the flight.
Taxing for those not familiar and yet enjoyable when familiar, like has been the case with Mamelodi Sundowns, who have been in the group stage for 10 years in a row.
The start of the Champions League group stage is new ground for Jose Riveiro and how he negotiates the trips to Algiers, Abidjan, and Cairo will influence plenty of what becomes the rest of the season after a perfect start in the league.
Champions League group stage football will be new territory for Riveiro and all but just two players - Innocent Maela and Paseka Mako - who were with the club in the 2018/19 season when they last got this far.
After the trip to Algiers for that group stage opener on November 26, Pirates will come back to a home fixture in the league four days later against Stellenbosch FC, before travelling to Bloemfontein to play Marumo Gallants on December 3.
Then after that, Bucs will host Al Ahly on December 7 with the Egyptian giants coming to Soweto nine years since their previous visit.
Three days later, they will have Golden Arrows as visitors, before travelling to Abidjan, following which they will play Sekhukhune United and Magesi FC before the end of the year.
Into the New Year, there will be three games within the first 10 days of 2025.
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For now, focus will be on the Algerians, who only won their first league match of the season on the seventh attempt this past weekend.
Pirates will spend the FIFA break with several players away on national team duties, which will come with travels to Uganda and Cape Town for those in the Bafana Bafana squad and various destinations for Deon Hotto and Gilberto.