Pirates face losing at least R10 million if they miss out on the group phase, which has a minimum of US$700,000 prize money, as opposed to the paltry US$100,000 that Pirates will earn if they are eliminated in the knockout phase.
Pirates lost heavily in the first leg of their second-round tie against St. Eloi Lupopo of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Lubumbashi on Sunday and must now do what no South African club has done before and overturn a 0–3 deficit.
Their defeat was the seventh time that a South African club has lost by three or more goals away in the first leg of a continental club competition knockout round tie.
Kaizer Chiefs suffered a 4–0 loss to Tunisia’s Espérance in the third round of the Champions League in 2005 and went out when they could only win the return 2–1.
In the same competition in 2014, Chiefs lost 3–0 away at AS Vita Club in Kinshasa and could not overturn the deficit in the return leg at home, but did come close as they won 2–0.
Cape Town City lost 3–0 at home in the first leg of their 2022–23 Champions League second-round clash with Petro Atlético and then 1–0 away in Luanda in the return.
In the Confederation Cup in 2005, SuperSport United lost 4–1 to Nigeria’s Dolphins in the first leg of their fourth-round tie and could only draw 2–2 at home in the second leg.
In the same competition in 2016, Bidvest Wits sent a second-string side to Azam of Tanzania and lost 3–0, and were then beaten 4–3 at home in the return leg.
Jomo Cosmos lost 3–0 to Mansoura of Egypt away in the first leg of their 1997 African Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final and drew 2–2 in the return to be eliminated.
There have been cases of South African clubs overturning a two-goal deficit from the first leg of a knockout round tie, notably when SuperSport took on Lupopo in the Confederation Cup in 2005. It was 2–0 to the Congolese in Lubumbashi, but SuperSport won the return 2–0 and advanced on post-match penalties.
Black Leopards, Santos and Mamelodi Sundowns have also come back from two-goal deficits to win knockout round ties in previous years.