Devonshire Cougars have been pitted against Surinam champions Sport Vereniging Leo Victor in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship.

Bermuda's defending Premier Division champions will play Sport Vereniging Leo Victor over two-legs with the winner progressing to the group stage of the competition, which is a preliminary phase of the Concacaf Champions League.

They travel to Surinam for the away leg on March 5 with the return match at the National Sports Centre (NSC) being held on March 19.

Club president Craig Clarke admits their opponents are an unknown quantity but is confident the Big Cats can compete with SV Leo Victor who have played in the Concacaf Champions League five times – their last appearance coming in 1994.

He believes Cougars' impressive showing during their 3-2 defeat against Trinidad Under-23s at the NSC last month is evidence they can hold their own at the higher level.

"We have been waiting for this for quite some time now and with the proper coaching and positive environment we will be successful," said Clarke.

"We do not know if they are professional or not so I do not want to comment on the result, but we will represent Bermuda to the best of our ability and hopefully we can take the same enthusiasm that we showed against Trinidad Under-23s into this match.

"They will be new to us but this will be a learning experience, and we have to go out and represent not only the club but Bermuda as best we can."

Clarke confessed he was disappointed Cougars would not have home advantage in the first leg of the tie so to make life easier for club who will be making their first ever appearance in the CFU Club Championship.

"I do believe that at the end of the day we can only put our best foot forward and see where that takes us," said Clarke, whose side lost 6-2 against Dandy Hornets in the league at the weekend.

"I personally would have liked to have played the team at home first to feel them out.

"To travel overseas to play opposition we do not know about is extra pressure on the team travelling and the impetus will be on them to get the result to carry to Bermuda.

"We do not want to get drawn into our previous results. Most people when they look at local football say that it is nothing compared to other countries, but in a tournament like this everyone raises their game because everyone has pride.

"At times we do take things for granted here, but when you travel internationally you have more pride and do not want to go out and get embarrassed.

"I cannot say what the score will be but I know that we will go there to compete and make a good showing of ourselves."

A total of 13 teams will participate in the preliminary phase of the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship.

At the completion of the preliminary phase, the five winning teams will join Puerto Rico Islanders, San Juan Jabloteh and Alpha United for the group stage of the tournament.

Two groups of four teams will participate in this phase of the Championship and the winner and first and second runners-up advance to the Concacaf Champions League preliminary round.

Sport Vereniging Leo Victor, also known as SV Leo Victor) play in Surinam's First Division. They play their home games in Paramaribo at Dr. Ir.F. Essed Stadion.

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Sport Vereniging Leo Victor's Concacaf Champions League appearances

1979 - unknown results

1983 - 1st Round (Caribbean) - Lost against SV Dakota 5 - 4 on agg (stage 1 of 4)

1988 - 1st Round (Caribbean) - Lost against ASL Sport Guyanais 3 - 2 on agg (stage 1 of ?)

1993 - 1st Round (Caribbean) - Lost against ASL Sport Guyanais 3 - 1 on agg (stage 1 of 5)

1994 - 2nd Round (Caribbean) - Lost against CRKSV Jong Colombia 1 - 1 (5-4 pen) on agg (stage 3 of 7)

CFU Club Championship appearance

2007 - 4er Finals - Lost against Puerto Rico Islanders 7 - 1 (stage 2 of 4)