CAF launches Africa Super League for African clubs
Africa Super League has been launched by the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe, with a $100 million prize pool. The competition will start in 2023 with 24 teams competing.
The money earned from the initial competition, would go to each member organisation, according to Motsepe, who made the announcement at the 44th CAF Ordinary General Assembly on August 10 in Arusha, Tanzania.
“We announced on July 3, 2022, that the total prize money of the Caf Africa Super League will be $100 million, with the winner receiving $11.5 million,” CAF said in an official statement released on their website.
The launch included participation from 52 Member Associations, notable football club executives, legends, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and according to CAF, all zones will be represented in the Africa Super League.
“We intend to pay each member association $1 million per annum from the Caf Africa Super League funds,” said Motsepe.
According to him, CAF plans to utilise $50 million from the Super League to improve the overall performance of some of the competitions.
“We also intend to allocate $50 million to CAF from these funds for youth and women’s football development and for all its other competitions to ensure that they are globally competitive.”
Speaking to the group, Mostepe stated that the motive behind the Super League creation is to increase the level of participation in African club competitions.
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Motsepe also expressed optimism in the ability to lessen the financial strain on the participating clubs using the proceeds from the inaugural competition.
“The prize money of competitions must be very high to make them exciting and to use some of that money to pay the players, the staff, and administrators,” said Motsepe.
“Some of the club owners tell me that when they play in the Champions League and the Confederation Cup, they have to spend money on transport and logistics,” he continued.
“What we are planning to do in the Super League is to give each of the 24 clubs that will participate in the initial Super League $2.5 million dollars. The $2.5 million should be used to buy players and assist with transport.
“You have to win on the field of play. We have to show the rest of the world that in those 90 minutes, we can win and be successful to show that African football is respected like football worldwide.”
The introduction of the Super League, in Motsepe’s opinion, will assist teams strengthen their financial position and retain the finest players in Africa.
“The success of club football is based on commercial viability. The Africa Super League, for us, is the most important intervention for the development and advancement of football in Africa,” he concluded.
“African clubs have never had a good foundation financially to keep some of the best players in Africa to stay in Africa.
“From an income perspective, they love the continent, and they want to be in Africa, so the financial part of club football is a critical issue, and what we’re hoping to do is improve the quality of football. We need to get the spectators excited about watching local football, so it’s as good as watching football anywhere in the world.”
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Abeeb Lekan Sodiq is a Managing Editor & Writer at theafricandream.net. He is as well a Graphics Designer and also known as Arakunrin Lekan.
