Rivers United head coach Finidi George has offered a measured response to the club's CAF Champions League preliminary round draw, describing the assignment against Ivorian side FC San Pedro as fair — but warning his squad against underestimating their opponents.

CAF conducted the draw for the 2026/2027 CAF Champions League on Thursday, pairing Nigeria's two representatives with their respective first-round opponents. Rivers United will travel to Côte d'Ivoire to face FC San Pedro, while fellow Nigerian side Rangers International — the reigning NPFL champions — were drawn against Benin Republic club Sobemap FC.

A fair draw, but no room for complacency

Finidi, a 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner with the Super Eagles, welcomed the pairing without getting carried away. "The draw, I would say, is not a bad one," the former Ajax Amsterdam UEFA Champions League winner said. "But then, you don't know what's going to happen in these games. But it's quite a fair one."

His cautious tone signals that Rivers United — known as the Pride of Rivers — will take nothing for granted despite the draw being considered favourable on paper.

Homework ahead of the Abidjan trip

The first leg will be played in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, before the return fixture at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Finidi confirmed his technical staff would begin gathering detailed intelligence on FC San Pedro before the tie kicks off.

"We'll try to see how we can know more about them and see how we can strategise," he said. "We're going there first, so that's a good thing. We'll see how we can get a good result over there and then we come back home and see how we can get to the next round of the preliminaries."

Rivers United will hope to reach the second preliminary round and maintain Nigeria's presence in the continent's premier club competition.