Cairo Giant Al Ahly and Auckland City begin their quest for Club World Cup glory when they lock horns at the Ibn Batouta Stadium in Morocco for a first-round clash on Wednesday.
The winners of this contest will face Major League Soccer outfit Seattle Sounders in the second round on Saturday.
The Red Devils are participating for the third successive year at the Club World Cup and for the eighth time in their history, with no other team in the competition's history having played more matches (18) than the Egyptian side.
Managed by former Switzerland international Marcel Koller, Al Ahly will be bidding to go one better than the previous two seasons at the Club World Cup in which they finished in third place after beating Palmeiras and Al-Hilal respectively to claim the bronze medal.
Al Ahly have made a strong start to the 2022-23 campaign since it began in mid-October, winning 16 and drawing four of their 20 matches across all competitions.
The 42-time Egyptian top-flight champions currently sit six points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand, and they head into Wednesday's contest having not conceded a league goal for over seven hours since the turn of the year.
Al Ahly are set to be without Karim Fouad, Akram Tawfik and Oufa Shobeir as they continue to recover from injury.
Goalkeeper and captain Mohamed El Shenawy could be protected by a back four of Mohamed Hany, Mahmoud Metwaly, Ramy Rabia and Ali Maaloul, with Afsha, Aliou Dieng, and Hamdi Fathi all set to operate in center-midfield.
Former Brighton & Hove Albion attacker Percy Tau will be hoping to force his way into the first XI.
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