The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Patrice Motsepe, has been given a lot of credit for the rebirth and design of the new Champions League trophy.
On Thursday, CAF unveiled the new-look Champions League trophy at the TotalEnergies headquarters in Rosebank, Johannesburg. TotalEnergies is the official title sponsor of the CAF interclub competitions and are enjoying a five-year partnership.
In attendance of the event was the former players Lucas Radebe, Teko Modise, Kaizer Chiefs head of marketing and African Club Association deputy chairperson Jessica Motaung, and SA Football Association (Safa) President Danny Jordaan, amongst other CAF officials.
Luxolo September, who is the head of TV and communication at CAF, expressed his excitement about the launch of the new Champions League trophy and the amount of influence Motsepe had.
Credit to CAF president
“I think we also need to give credit to the CAF president, Dr Patrice Motsepe, who is very influential. He was always calling us to say, ‘what are you doing about club football in Africa? And how are you elevating it?” September told Sunday World.
“So, the CAF president has always given us a clear vision on how to improve and make African football amongst the best in the world.
“We are going to give a lot of credit to his 1am calls. Because he used to call me asking when we are modernising our trophy.”
September also explained the concept and inspiration behind the trophy design and what it means to Africa.
“After a lot of brainstorming, the consensus was that we must stay with the tradition [of the trophy] but modernise it. All 30% of what you see is what was there before, and 70% of it is new.
“We did not want to do a drastic departure from what has worked in the past. At the same time, we wanted to make a bold statement that African football is moving forward. In a different direction. And that is why the new trophy is an exciting thing for us.
Touch of familiarity
“With the new trophy, you get a touch of familiarity. But also an abstract that this is new, different, shiny, bigger, and stronger.”
Either Mamelodi Sundowns or Pyramids FC will get to lift the new trophy. The two teams meet over two legs of the Champions League final.
Sundowns will first host Pyramids at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday. That will be before going to Cairo seven days later to the decider.
