The new African Football League will start on October 20, Infantino says

ABIDJAN, July 13 (Reuters) – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has confirmed the Oct. 20 start date for the new eight-team African Football League. He made the announcement at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) General Assembly in Abidjan on Thursday.

The competition has been significantly reduced from the original proposal of 24 teams, with CAF announcing a $15.7 million loss for the 2022-23 financial year.

“It has eight great teams that will be followed in the future with a bigger version,” Infantino told delegates. “We need to invest in African club football as well as national team football.

“It is our responsibility, duty and mission, and with the work and contribution of all of us as a team, we will succeed.”

Not much else is known about the competition just over three months before it kicks off and CAF has yet to confirm the names of the participating teams.

According to Reuters, the eight are South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns, owned by CAF president Patrice Motsepe’s family, Petro Atletico of Angola, DRC’s TP Mazembe, Al Ahly of Egypt, Horoya of Guinea, Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, Tanzania’s Simba and Tunisia’s Esperance.

The competition runs concurrently with the CAF Champions League for domestic league winners across the continent and does not replace it.

Details regarding broadcasters, sponsors and logistics are also under wraps for now.

Motsepe has spoken at length in recent years about the need to improve the African football “product” to appeal to a global audience, and the new league is said to be key to this.

“We have recognized for many years that African footballers have been among the best in the world, but we need to improve the appeal of African football, its commercial viability and its ability to sustain itself,” Motsepe said.

CAF also confirmed a loss for the previous financial year, but this is due to a 17 per cent improvement in revenue to $125.2 million, which they estimate will grow further in 2023-24.

The deficit was not unexpected when CAF settled an undisclosed sum in court with commercial agency Lagardere last November after canceling a 10-year, $1 billion TV and marketing rights deal in 2019.

“CAF had to take difficult decisions in a long-running dispute with some of our partners by settling matters out of court,” CAF said in a statement on Thursday.

“This and other accounting standards recommended by CAF’s auditors were fully taken into account in the financial statements.”

Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Christian Radnedge and Ken Ferris

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