What seemed like mere thoughts in November 2019 could become reality: the African Super League should see the light of day in September 2023, according to CAF President Patrice Motsepe. At a press conference last week in Douala (Cameroon), after meeting several club presidents from all over the continent, the South African leader began to draw the lines of this new competition, the European version of which had been highly controversial. from its launch in April 2021.
The CAF SL, which would bring together the 24 best teams on the continent (including 15 founders), is almost unanimous in African football. It should also be supported by the blessing of FIFA, as confirmed by Gianni Infantino during this same meeting: “FIFA is part of Africa, so it is obvious that the President and the administration of FIFA are present to give our support, our backing to this African Super League project. We are here to support the development of clubs in Africa.”
African football soon in the foreground?
This new competition would not only highlight the efforts made by CAF for several years but also reveal the future ambitions of the pan-African body. “It’s a new era for us, a new way of thinking and working together, said Bestine Kazadi, president of AS Vita Club, one of the biggest clubs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The African Super League will give us a great ambition, that of opening Africa to the world, and developing African football at the global level.
This news that the Confederation wants to open in Africa will notably go through the improvement of the foundations, and this, beyond the sports facilities of the future participants in the SL: “We want the African Super League to be able to compete with the best tournaments in the world, in terms of quality of football, means, infrastructure, stadium, referee. (…) We are looking for expertise and we want FIFA to tell us about how it organizes its attractive world competitions. And all these subscriptions will go through the search for sponsors capable of taking this project to a new level…
Three regions, three hens
Regarding the operation of the Super League, CAF divides the African continent into three regions: North Africa, Central and West Africa and finally South and East Africa. Each of them will have its own pool of 8 teams, which will compete in the form of home and away matches, ie 14 matches to be played for each club. Depending on the ranking, the top 5 of the three groups and the best sixth will then qualify for the round of 16, again in round trip format except for the final, which is still under discussion (A/R or single match).
This organization should not change much for North African clubs, always well represented in the CAF Champions League: indeed, 68% of editions were won by an Egyptian, Tunisian, Moroccan or Algerian club (17/25) since the start of the LDC era. But it will mainly benefit the teams from the Center and the West, which has very few ambassadors in Africa’s major club competition. An under-representation which can be explained by the exponential export of young local talents to Europe, thus preventing their training clubs from shining at the African level.
One more competition, but two less?
Despite all the positive points discussed by Patrice Motsepe at a press conference, one last question remains: what will happen to the Champions League and the Confederation Cup (equivalent to the Europa League)? If they seemed spared by this new project at the start, these two continental tournaments could well disappear to leave to the Super League according to information from Filgoal. “The African Champions League and the Confederation Cup will be canceled and replaced by the Super League and another tournament called the African Champions Cup.”
Thanks to an internal source familiar with the matter, the Egyptian media adds that CAF President Patrice Motsepe “started negotiating Super League sponsorship rights. The goal is to maximize profits and achieve financial rewards of over $20 million.” This same source concludes: “FIFA President Gianni Infantino has promised Motsepe to help CAF find sponsors.” A logical support when you know the involvement of Italo-Switzerland in the African football landscape…
