Controversial African 'Super League' gets underway with FIFA's full blessing

Bruno Henriques

Petro Luanda and Mamelodi Sundowns playersAFL

The European idea didn't take off and even sparked a war that has gone to court. On the African continent, however, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has given his backing to an African 'Super League' - the first edition of which kicked off in October and will end in November.

It was perhaps one of the most controversial ideas in European football. On April 18th 2021, 12 clubs announced the birth of a European Super League, which caused revulsion among fans and indignation on the part of UEFA and FIFA, who cracked down on the dissidents.

On the African continent, however, a similar idea met no opposition. On the contrary, Gianni Infantino was even present at the inaugural match of the African Football League (AFL) last week.

A joint project between FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the AFL aims to become the continent's premier club competition, although, CAF leader Patrice Motsepe assures us, it's not here to replace the African Champions League or the Confederations Cup (equivalent to the Europa League).

This idea was born in November 2019, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of TP Mazembe, the biggest club in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Africa. Gianni Infantino, then in the country, confirmed plans for a new competition. The competition was finally ratified last August at a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee.

The initial goal was for 24 teams from 16 countries (the qualification process was not defined). Three groups (North, Central and South) of eight teams were to be formed, with a total of 193 matches, starting in August 2023 with the final in May 2024.

The big attraction would be the prize money. 100 million dollars (around 94 million euros) would be allocated to the competition. The winner would be entitled to around 11 million euros (much more than the 3.8 that Al Ahly received for winning the Champions League).

To this, CAF also added the commitment to allocate 1 million dollars (around 943,000 euros) a year to each of the 54 federations, which would be earmarked for training and infrastructure development programmes.

An ambitious plan that has not materialised so far.

The African Football League was launched this January but in a different format: Just eight clubs in two-legged knockout rounds (including the final), starting in October and ending in November.

Al Ahly (Egypt), TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Esperance Tunis (Tunisia), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Enyimba (Nigeria), Petro Luanda (Angola), Simba (Tanzania) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa, whose president is Motsepe's son) are the starting teams.

The prize money has also dropped considerably. The winner will collect just 4 million dollars (3.8 million euros); the beaten finalist 2.4 million euros; the semi-finalists will get 1.6 million euros, and the teams beaten in the first round will collect 850,000 euros.