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AFRICA FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Fate of CAF Champions League remains uncertain as Super League is born

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The football governing body in Africa, CAF  has launched a FIFA president Gianni Infantino- inspired Africa Super League on Wednesday in Arusha, Tanzania.

The launch is a side event of the 44th Ordinary General Assembly of the football governing body. While the multi-million dollar new football competition is planned to kick off in August next year, CAF was silent on its current inter-club flagship competition, the CAF Champions League which began in 1964 as African Cup of Champions Clubs and got re branded with its current nomenclature in 1997.

The prize money for the Africa Super League will be $100 million for participating teams.

Half of the budget will be split between the 24 participating clubs, with each team guaranteed a minimum of $2.5 million and the winner gets $11.6 million.

The money is over five times the $2.5 million awarded to the winners of the CAF Champions League.

CAF added that each of its 54 member associations would receive $1 million annually, while $50 million would be set aside for women’s football and youth development.

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According to CAF, the Super League will be played by 24 teams from three regions (North Africa, West/Central Africa, South/East Africa) and 16 different countries.

A total of 197 matches will be played between August and May, with the finalists playing a maximum of 21 games. The league will include both promotion and relegation playoffs.

The final will be a one-legged tie at a neutral ground later in the season.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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