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 and authored by Gianni Infantino, president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), was to bring together twenty-four teams from sixteen countries each year with a promotion and relegation system, a world first – and they 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 not given any 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 be held in 2024. He did not give me more precise information”explains Frédéric Kitenge, general director of Tout Puissant Mazembe (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Between qualification 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, as only eight teams participated between October 20 and November 12.
Not before September 2025
The South African club Mamelodi Sundowns beat Moroccan Wydad Casablanca in the final (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 match. “I hope there will be a sequel, because it is a financially interesting competition that highlights the potential of African football. But obviously there is a problem around its organization and we wonder if this African League will continue to exist.”asks Frédéric Kitenge.
The absence of information from the CAF about a competition that, however, it had sold in press conferences leaves the club’s leaders in doubt. “We are waiting for a schedule and details on the format.indicates Hicham Aït Menna, president of Wydad Casablanca. Looking ahead to the first half of 2025, this seems very compromised, between the national team matches, 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. »
Some dates are circulating, including September. When asked, Veron Mosengo-Omba and Samson Adamu, CAF competitions director, did not respond to questions from World Africa.
Saudi Arabia, sole sponsor
Aït Menna does not foresee the demise of the African Football League, but believes that the 2025 edition could only focus once again on “eight teams and compete in one country, for a week.” The question of financing the tournament is also at the heart of the issues. CAF signed a collaboration contract with the Saudi Ministry of Tourism in October 2023, but since then no other sponsor has officially announced their arrival.
“FIFA, which is at the origin of this competition, could perhaps play a role”assumes 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 the matter.
“This African League came when we didn’t expect it, it disappeared this year… Therefore, we can imagine everything: that it disappears or that it soon becomes relevant again. The answer is from CAF”, estimates Benoît You, general director of ASEC Mimosas, in Abidjan. Even within Mamelodi Sundowns, the club owned by none other than CAF boss Patrice Motsepe, no one seems to be further ahead on the future of the African League.
