On Tuesday night, Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise begin their bid to reach the league phase of the Champions League with a third qualifying-round tie against Bodø/Glimt, the Norwegian side who pulled off a stunning run last season against teams such as Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan and Manchester City.
Mofokeng made his first official appearance for Union last Friday as a second-half substitute and tucked away the decisive penalty as they beat champions Club Brugge away from home to win the Belgian Super Cup.
The 21-year-old is likely to get some game time, either in the starting line-up or, more likely, off the bench in Oostende on Tuesday as Union host the first leg of the tie.
Union are unable to use their own ground in Brussels for the game because it is too small to stage European club competition ties.
They are away in Norway for the second leg next Wednesday and, if they advance, will take on either NEC Nijmegen of the Netherlands or Greece’s Olympiakos for a place in the Champions League proper.
Danish champions Aarhus then host Sabah of Azerbaijan on Wednesday in the first leg of their third qualifying-round tie, hoping to have former Platinum Stars and Cape Town City winger Gift Links back in the line-up after injury.
Links was one of Aarhus’ star performers as they won the Danish championship for the first time in 40 years last season. However, the 27-year-old was absent last week as they overturned a 4-1 home deficit against Poland’s Lech Poznan to advance in dramatic fashion from the second qualifying round, where they entered the competition.
Sabah have already come through two rounds of two-legged qualifying ties in this season’s Champions League against Welsh and Finnish opposition. Former Kaizer Chiefs centre-back Aden McCarthy is in their squad, although he has played only a few minutes in the competition since moving from South Africa.
Wednesday’s first leg will be played in Randers, Denmark, with the return match in Azerbaijan next Tuesday. The winners will advance to the final qualifying round to face either Hapoel Beer-Sheva of Israel or Red Star Belgrade of Serbia for a place in the league phase.
