The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday launched a new lucrative $100 million Super League aimed at injecting financial muscle to the cash-strapped clubs on the continent, IgbereTV reports
Twenty-four clubs, yet to be decided, will take part in the first edition, which has the backing of the world governing body FIFA and will be played between August 2023 and May 2024.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe, who announced the new competition, did not say if it would replace CAF’s existing Champions League and the second-tier Confederation Cup.
“The African Super League is a very important initiative. One of the major problems in Africa is finance,” said Motsepe at the launch held in the northern Tanzania town of Arusha.
“The Africa Super League is one of the most exciting developments in the history of African football and the objective in terms of what we are trying to achieve is very clear, to make sure African club football is world-class and competes with the best in the world.
“Our intention is to use the $100 million as prize money and to do that every year in the African Super League so that the club which wins gets $11.5 million,” he added.
Hamdi Meddeb, the chairman of four-time Champions League winners Esperance Tunis, claimed before the launch that sides would be better not to play in the current top-tier competition due to costs.
“Africa is a huge continent and sometimes we have to charter flights at a cost of more than $100,000 each,” Meddeb said.
