By Samindra Kunti
February 7 – On the sidelines of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) convened a meeting with FA presidents, club chairmen and FIFA president Gianni Infantino to discuss plans for the creation of an African Super League, but the governing body again was able to give little detail on the project.
However, comments by CAF president Patrice Motsepe, suggest that it could end up being a FIFA competition rather than a CAF one.
“We will implement in partnership with FIFA. FIFA brings a wealth of experience in terms of running the best competition in the world, [the World Cup].”
“We want the African Super League to be world-class and to compete against the best in the world in terms of quality of football, resources, infrastructure, pitches, referees, stadiums and ticketing. A lot of good progress has been made.”
Clubs from across the continent, including Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Tanzania’s Simba, attended a panel that included Motsepe, Infantino, Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya and Djibouti’s Souleiman Waberi.
Under Motsepe, CAF has repeatedly promoted plans for a Super League. Last July, the ruling body’s executive committee discussed the plans that would reshape the African game and in Cairo in November a Super League was front and centre again at both the executive committee and the extraordinary general assembly.
But for all the bravado, Motsepe, who last summer said broadcasters across the continent have expressed a firm interest in a potential Super League, has mostly failed to deliver any further details about the new competition, the brainchild of FIFA boss Infantino.
Motsepe stated again that the private sector would be engaged to provide the necessary funding for the competition.
CAF wants to launch the competition in the autumn of 2023 and reports suggest that 24 clubs will feature in three groups of eight teams ahead of a knockout stage. All participants will be required to have a youth academy and a women’s team as part of their club licensing criteria.
“It’s a completely different proposition – it is not at all a breakaway league,” said Infantino. “It is an African Super League integrated in the institutional structures of African and global football. The second big difference is that this is an open competition, allowing for teams to be promoted and also to be relegated if they don’t perform.”
“The African Super League is definitely an exciting project as far as FIFA is concerned. It’s a unique project for global and African football and for this reason, I’m very happy to be here to assist and share a little bit of the experience we’ve accumulated.”
In 2019, FIFA president Infantino first mooted the idea, saying he favoured 20 permanent African Super League members plus others who would qualify via regional play-offs. The African Super League would serve as a feeder competition for FIFA’s enlarged Club World Cup. That reformatted tournament has been delayed because of the global health pandemic.
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