How Orlando Pirates Can Still Finish Second in DStv Premiership and Play in the CAF Champions League

• Orlando Pirates is jetting off to Uyo in Nigeria tonight to take on Moroccan side RS Berkane in the CAF Confederations Cup final on Friday night
• The Buccaneers' hopes of participating in next season's Champions League, far the more prestigious tournament, hang by a thread
• Pirates has to finish second in the DStv Premiership, hoping that a lot of other results fall in their favour in an unlikely manner

By the looks of things, Orlando Pirates hopes of playing in next season's CAF Champions League are all but over.

The Buccaneers are preparing to play in the continent's secondary football tournament's final, the CAF Confederations Cup, on Friday against Morocco's RS Berkane in Nigeria. In order to participate in next season's premier event, they have no choice but to finish as runners-up to champions Mamelodi Sundowns in the DStv Premiership.

A look at the log table shows that the Soweto giants are in a spot of bother. They sit in seventh place on 40 points, having two matches in hand over other competition for second place.

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Mathematically, only Cape Town City (29 matches, second, 49 points), Royal AM (28 matches, third, 46 points) and Kaizer Chiefs (29 matches, fourth, 46 points) can finish with as the bridesmaids. Each of these teams must not cross beyond 49 points after the last round of league matches this weekend in order for the Sea Robbers to dream of top-tier continental football.

Pirates must win every one of their remaining three fixtures, including one against Royal AM, and preferably, by a handsome margin on each occasion. Sports Brief reported that winning the Confederations Cup does not guarantee participation in the Champions League, as one would expect in the fashion of the UEFA Europa League and the Champions League.

Frighteningly for Pirates fans, not winning the Confederations Cup and finishing below third means that there will be no trips into Africa next season.

Controversial referee Janny Sikazwe to officiate CAF Confed Cup final between Orlando Pirates and RS Berkane

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The match officials for this Friday's CAF Confederations Cup final between South Africa's Orlando Pirates and Morocco's RS Berkane have been announced.

As reported by Sports Brief, Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe will be the man in the middle, while Angolan Jerson Emiliano Dos Santos and Mozambique's Arsenio Chadreque Maringule will run the sidelines at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Nigeria.

The teams contesting the final, their supporters and neutrals will hope for no mishaps this time around regarding the 42-year-old Sikazwe in such a crucial encounter.