Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe has explained that the forthcoming CAF Super League will change the landscape of African football and will turn it into a force to be reckoned with in global football. The Super League is expected to start in the 2024/25 season.
Motsepe was responding to questions about the struggles that clubs face when they take part in continental competitions.
Marumo Gallants faced difficulties in their CAF Confederation Cup campaign that contributed in Bahlabane ba Ntwa getting relegated to the first division of South African football.
Mamelodi Sundowns also had a toiling campaign in the Champions League, and it ended up in heart-breaking fashion after they were knocked out by
Wydad AC last week.
“That is why we are introducing the Super League to make sure there is more money for the clubs and the players. We have to help with transport, there’s lot of amounts spent travelling around the continent by clubs or national teams, and that’s where the prize money helps,” said
Motsepe at the Cosafa Cup AGM in Sandton.
“In the Super League, all those countries who are participating are going to get a $1-million (R19-million) to help them buy players and to travel. It is a simple proposition for the improvement of football on the African continent – you get more sponsors, you get more partners coming in to invest more money and we should use that money to pay players more and keep them on the continent because we can pay competitive salaries.
“I know because in the last 20 years when I was still actively involved with Sundowns we knew that Scandinavian countries did not pay as much as we did and that was good. I am confident that with more resources and revenue coming from broadcast, African football is seen as an attractive marketing and
advertising platform for business and for investors.
“We can use that money to invest in academies – clubs cannot keep on buying expensive players, it doesn’t make commercial sense. The best investment is to get them young from 8-13 years old, get them into academies,” Motsepe said.
The mining mogul said CAF’s decision to increase prize money in its club competitions had gone a long way in improving competition. “We have increased the prize money for CAF competitions by 60%. There has to be a level of competitiveness and excitement.
“I am hopeful the prize money will be used to pay the players and to give them bonuses. I am happy with the performance of all the clubs on the continent because the clubs are the backbone of the national teams,” he added.
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