The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Dr. Patrice Motsepe says it was not his intention to start the African Football League with just eight teams.
The idea behind the AFL is based on the failed project of the European Super League, something that was rejected by the majority of fans and European giants, but the African version was launched by CAF and is kicking off later this month.
While African football has been in desperate need of new ideas and investment injection, the Visit Saudi sponsorship has brought a welcome boost to their coffers for the inaugural AFL edition that initially was met with scepticism over its potential success.
“My duty is to develop football in every one of the 54 nations of Africa, the inaugural African Football League didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, and it’s simply because of money,” Motsepe said.
“Many of the sponsors said we’re excited about the ‘African Super League’, what it was called but I had to change the name to ‘African Football League’ because some of our sponsors in Europe said to call it whatever you want except for Super League because of the challenges they experienced with the Super League.
“I’m not so worried about what it’s called, I’m more focused on the success and it’s contributions to the development of African football. CAF could have started the inaugural African Football League now during this season 2023/24 but I would have had to accept a little bit less money than we wanted.”
Motsepe’s admission suggests CAF didn’t quite secure the necessary sponsorship partners to launch the 24-team tournament as initially planned, but with $4-million (R75m) on offer for the winners in a total prize pool of just under $10-million (R189m) – it provides participants of a significant prize.
The quarter-finals take place over two legs between 20-24 October, with the semi-finals set for 29 October and 1 November, and the two-legged final is scheduled for 5 and 11 November.
AFL opening fixtures:
- Simba SC vs Al Ahly
- TP Mazembe vs Esperance de Tunis
- Enyimba vs Wydad
- Petro de Luanda vs Mamelodi Sundowns
