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| Organiser(s) | CAF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 17 July 2021; 4 years ago (2021-07-17) |
| Abolished | 2024; 2 years ago (2024) |
| Region | Africa |
| Teams | 8 (2023) |
| Related competitions | CAF Champions League CAF Confederation Cup |
| Last champions |  Mamelodi Sundowns(1st title) |
| Most championships | Mamelodi Sundowns (1 title) |
TheAfrican Football League (AFL) was a continental men's clubfootball competition organized by theConfederation of African Football (CAF).[1][2] It was announced on 28 November 2019 byGianni Infantino, president ofFIFA and it was initially launched as the Africa Super League on 10 August 2022 in Tanzania and was to include twenty-four elite African clubs with a promotion and relegation system. Theinaugural edition in 2023 was scaled down to eight teams by exception and won byMamelodi Sundowns. The competition has not been played since.
Gianni Infantino announced the tournament during a visit to theDemocratic Republic of the Congo to celebrate the 80th anniversary ofTP Mazembe, saying the top 20 clubs in Africa should be chosen and made to participate in an African league.
Infantino said this league would generate revenues of $100 million, making it among the top ten leagues in the world, and revealed that he was launching an appeal to raise $1 billion in order to give every African country a football stadium that complies with the specifications ofFIFA. On 17 July 2021, the President ofCAF,Patrice Motsepe, confirmed the move to implement the African Super League project as a new tournament ran under the umbrella of CAF, with large financial returns for the sides taking part.[3] The Confederation of African Football launched the competition on 10 August 2022 inArusha,Tanzania, where more information about the competition was released.
CAF initially wanted to start the competition in August 2023, with reports suggest that 24 clubs would feature in three groups of eight teams, ahead of a knockout stage starting at the Round of 16. These teams would have been taken from the best-ranked African clubs over the past few years, with groups played on a regional basis (North, Central/West, South/East). As part of the club licensing criteria, participating clubs would be required to have a youth academy and a women's team.[4]
On 9 June, the president of CAF,Patrice Motsepe, announced the decision to change the name of the African Super League to the African Football League during an interview withbeIN Sport.[5] saying "Our friends in Europe advised us not to use the expressionSuper League due to the negative associations with the recent failed attempt in European football." On 13 June 2023, during that year's CAF General Assembly inAbidjan, Infantino announced that the competition would be scaled back to eight teams for the inaugural edition and would now kick off on 20 October 2023,[6] which would be followed by an expanded tournament further down the line. The African Football League would also not replace CAF's top club competition, theCAF Champions League.[2] On 29 August 2023, the competition format for the inaugural edition was announced, with the previous format announced to be adopted starting in 2024–25 (later canceled).[1] On 20 October 2023, the president of CAF,Patrice Motsepe, unveiled the African football league trophy.[7]
With the introduction of the African Football League in the 2023–24 season, CAF attempted to establish a new competition to rival theCAF Champions League; however, the African Football League failed to generate the same level of popular enthusiasm and only lasted for a single edition. The CAF Champions League remains Africa's premier club competition, boasting the highest prize money on the continent.[2][8]
The competition did not return in the 2024–25 season: while CAF has not officially announced the competition is defunct as of December 2025, information about the AFL is no longer featured on the official CAF website.[9]
The initial details of the format were announced during the launch ceremony in 2022 and would have involved 24 teams and 197 matches. However, the2023 edition was contested as an eight-team knockout competition, with two-legged quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds.[1][2]
The prize money for the first season has been announced in September 2023 and was as follows:[10][11]
The AFL Trophy was designed and made byThomas Lyte, and stands at a height of 54cm, and weighing 13.95kg, It is made from 24-carat gold plate, and also includes silver-plated brass.[12]
| Territory | Rights holder | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| MENA | BeIN Sports | [13] |
| Morocco | Arryadia | [14] |
| World | FIFA+,DAZN | [15] |
| Season | Winner | Score (legs) | Runner-up | Venue | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Mamelodi Sundowns | 3–2 | 1–2 |  Wydad AC | Stade Mohammed V,Casablanca | 45,000 |
| 2–0 | Loftus Versfeld Stadium,Pretoria | 50,000 | ||||
The project has been subjected to criticism for unrealistic expectations of financial returns. The current continental championships in Africa experience weak infrastructure and high travel costs for fans and teams, which will not be automatically resolved by this new competition.
There were already significant financial disputes between the major teams in North Africa, South Africa and the rest of the continent, which would be exacerbated by the new competition.[16] Further, it was also doubtful whether the competition can arouse the public's attention, despite claims to the contrary, while there were concerns about the impact of the new competition on the currentConfederation of African Football Championships such as theCAF Champions League (which prize money of the winners was the at the same level as the African Football League winners), theCAF Confederation Cup and national leagues.[17]
In this regard, the Confederation of African Football has also been described as a laboratory of experiments, with the acceptance of the proposal to establish the African Super League contrasting with the rejection of theEuropean Super League by UEFA in April 2021.[18]
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| Global |
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| Africa |
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See also:International women's club football | |||||||||
