We will have to wait until 2025 at the earliest to witness the second edition of the African Football League. This competition, announced in 2019, the authorship of which goes to Gianni Infantino, the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), was supposed to bring together twenty-four teams from sixteen countries every year with a system of promotion and relegation – a world first – and constitute the competition reserved for the best clubs on the continent. Its final was even presented as an “African-style Super Bowl”.
But the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which organizes it, has given no indication for this year’s edition. “I spoke at the beginning of November with Veron Mosengo-Omba, its secretary general, and I understood that the African League would not take place in 2024. He did not give me more precise information”explains Frédéric Kitenge, the general manager of Tout Puissant Mazembe (Democratic Republic of Congo).
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Between qualifying for the 2025 African Cup of Nations and the start of the group stage of the Champions League – the flagship competition for African clubs since 1964 – the end-of-year calendar is already overloaded. In 2023, CAF inaugurated its League with a reduced format, since only eight teams participated between October 20 and November 12.
Not before September 2025
The South African club Mamelodi Sundowns won in the final against the Moroccans Wydad Casablanca (1-2, 2-0) and pocketed 3.7 million euros, compared to 2.8 million for their unfortunate opponent. The semi-finalists received 1.6 million and the quarter-finalists 930,000 euros. This first edition was also a popular success, with an average of 39,000 spectators per meeting. “I hope there will be a sequel, because it is a financially interesting competition which highlights the potential of African football. But there is obviously a problem around its organization and we wonder if this African League will continue to exist”asks Frédéric Kitenge.
The absence of information from CAF on a competition that it had nevertheless sold throughout press conferences leaves club leaders doubtful. “We are awaiting a schedule and details on the formatindicates Hicham Aït Menna, the president of Wydad Casablanca. For the first half of 2025, this seems very compromised, between the matches of the national selections, the rest of the Champions League and the CAF Cup [la deuxième compétition continentale de clubs] and the Club World Cup in the United States. »
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A few dates are circulating, including September. When asked, Veron Mosengo-Omba and Samson Adamu, the director of CAF competitions, did not respond to questions from World Africa.
Saudi Arabia, sole sponsor
Mr. Aït Menna does not envisage the disappearance of the African Football League, but he believes that the 2025 edition could once again only concern “eight teams and compete in a single country, over one week”. The question of financing the tournament is also at the center of the issues. CAF signed a partnership contract with the Saudi Ministry of Tourism in October 2023, but since then, no other sponsor has officially announced its arrival.
“FIFA, which is at the origin of this competition, could perhaps play a role”supposes the president of Wydad. For the moment, Gianni Infantino, too busy maintaining his Club World Cup at all costs by looking for advertisers and broadcasters, has not commented on this subject.
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“This African League arrived when we were not expecting it, it disappeared this year… We can therefore envisage everything: that it disappears or that it soon becomes relevant again. The answer belongs to CAF,” estimates Benoît You, the general director of ASEC Mimosas, in Abidjan. Even within Mamelodi Sundowns, the club whose owner is none other than Patrice Motsepe, the boss of CAF, no one seems more advanced on the future of the African League.
