Moroccan champions Raja Casablanca have decided to set up camp in Gauteng for the first of their back-to-back CAF Champions League clashes against Mamelodi Sundowns.
The two matches are of significance considering that both clubs are yet to record wins in this tight Group B, which has Raja at the bottom with a single point and FAR Rabat top with four, while Sundowns and Maniema Union are sandwiched in between with two each.
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Raja played out a 1-1 draw against AS Maniema Union on Saturday at the Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecote in Kinshasa, Congo DR.
Instead of taking the long trip back home to Morocco before travelling to South Africa later in the week, they are already in Gauteng having flown in directly from Kinshasa.
This means they will have all week to adapt to the scorching heat in Gauteng before taking to the field at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday (15:00).
As strange as this might sound, this will be Raja's first ever meeting against Sundowns.
Raja's previous visits to South Africa were to play Manning Rangers in 1998, Ajax Cape Town in 2005, Kaizer Chiefs in 2015, Orlando Pirates (2020-21), and AmaZulu (2021/22).
Just this past weekend, The Brazilians also played FAR Rabat for the first time in another match which ended in a stalemate.
Rarely do Sundowns get to play opposition that they have never met before.
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After playing a FAR Rabat team that had Nasreddine Nabi as head coach just six months ago, Raja also had former Orlando Pirates gaffer Josef Zinnbauer as their head coach until June.
They have since had Rusmir Cviko and Abdelkrim Jinani before Ricardo Sa Pinto took over in October.