At least until last Friday, the African Football League appeared headed for the same spectacular collapse experienced by its vaunted European Super League counterpart, which folded even before a single ball was kicked. Touted by critics as a "closed shop" where participation was by invitation only and an "exclusive boys club", it included some of Europe's biggest clubs with neither promotion nor worries about the threat of relegation. The plan entailed inviting 12 of Europe's best clubs from Italy, Spain, England, Germany and France like AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint- Germain, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, among others. CAF, meanwhile, have been adamant all along that the tournament will be going on despite concerns within certain quarters, not least from South Africa, where Mamelodi Sundowns' was in question owing to the fixture congestion it would cause on the domestic front. In the end, the PSL gave the Tshwane giants the go-ahead following a Board of Governors emergency meeting comprising the 32 PSL chairmen, which took place on 13 October. The Siya crew delves into the issue.
PSL Raises Red Flag
The European Super League had been mooted as far back as 2009 by Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, who stated that the UEFA Champions League was "obsolete," "problematic" and an "obstacle" preventing clubs from growing their business and developing infrastructure. The idea was to run their own competition that would not be answerable or affiliated to neither Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) nor to FIFA, but would be run independently by the clubs on their own.
But before it could take off, there was such an uproar with supporters staging demonstrations against the formation, particularly in England, that organisers were forced to withdraw and eventually the plan collapsed like a deck of cards. In Africa, however, it appeared to find favour from both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), championed by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, who is president of CAF, and supported by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Motsepe announced at the CAF General Assembly in Arusha, Tanzania, that the organization will launch the African Super League, later renamed African Football League, which would comprise 24 of the continent's top clubs. However, the inaugural tournament will only feature eight teams, with the number of sides taking part to be expanded at a later stage. The CAF President claimed that the new tournament would "breath" new life into African football and the vision was to ensure that if the top players across the continent engaged in such a competition on a regular basis, it would fast-track the development of football in Africa and hopefully bridge the gap between the continent and the rest of the world.
But while in Europe opposition has come mainly from England, in Africa the fire was ignited by the DStv Premiership in South Africa, who have pulled out a yellow card and declared the initiative offside. Furthermore, in Egypt, Al Ahly coach Marcel Koller has expressed his displeasure. A few weeks before the scheduled take-off, the organizers of the AFL found themselves caught up in an embarrassing stand-off with the South African Premiership over the participation of Mamelodi Sundowns. The PSL Board of Governors held a meeting a fortnight ago, where they overwhelmingly voted to bar the defending domestic league champions from taking part in the inaugural version slated for this Friday in Dar es Salaam. This raised serious concerns around whether the competition would take off as scheduled, but in a follow-up meeting, it was resolved that some of Sundowns' domestic fixtures would be rejigged and the club would be allowed to take part in the AFL. Eight teams have been selected to launch the Football League, with the Brazilians pitted against Petro Atletico in Luanda, while reigning CAF Champions League winners Al Ahly line up against Simba from Tanzania. In other fixtures, TP Mazembe from Lubumbashi in the mineral-rich Katanga province of the DR Congo face off against Esperance de Tunis. Enyimba of Aba state in Nigeria line up against Wydad Casablanca.
What The Siya Crew Has Been Told…
The participation of Mamelodi Sundowns hung in the balance following the decision of the PSL Board of Governors to bar them from taking part in the competition, where the winner stands to take home $4 million (R77 million). Al Ahly coach Marcel Koller has publicly expressed his unhappiness about the new competition, claiming his players will suffer as the competition had the potential to put a lot of strain on their legs, many of whom are Egyptian internationals.
This publication has been informed that the PSL also felt embarrassed by the organizers of the African Football League, who dispatched a letter to the Parktown offices only on 18 September requesting Sundowns to be part of the new venture. In terms of the NSL manual, article 26.1 states that their members may not play against a team from another national association without the written permission of the League and the SA Football Association.
Article 26.3 states: "Request for permission to stage an international match must be submitted in writing to the league at least 30 days prior to the match although the league may condone a late application on good cause."
A Siya source explained that the constitution further explains: "the league may refuse permission on the grounds that the international friendly match may interfere with the league's programme or its marketing."
This publication has been informed that procedurally, correspondence from the AFL was supposed to have been directed to SAFA, who, in turn, is empowered to discuss the matter with its affiliate, the PSL, and then reach consensus.
"But," according to our deep throat, "when the PSL contacted SAFA for clarity about the Sundowns invitation as well as the rules and regulations of the mooted competition and the criteria used to select Sundowns, SAFA promised to request the information from CAF."
Soccer Laduma has further been informed that the PSL felt that if SAFA had not been kept abreast of developments regarding the new competition, then perhaps CAF would be in a position to clarify issues at a later stage. But apparently the delay by CAF to reveal information about the competition led to the PSL drawing up their annual fixtures while accommodating FIFA dates as well as the Africa Cup of Nations… sadly without allocating space for the new league.
Why PSL Were Uneasy About Downs Participation
Another sticking point, according to Siya sources, was believed to be the fact that the African Football League appears to be operating as an independent and separate entity altogether.
"The concern stemmed from the fact that the letter inviting Sundowns to participate in the AFL does not bear any logo at all, be it from SAFA, CAF or even FIFA," said the Siya source.
"The letter came from an organization that they (PSL) do not know nor have heard about before except from media reports. There is also concern about who are the people running this organization and whether they (AFL) are an organ of CAF or not?
"Mind you," added the Siya source, "the clubs were unanimous that on merit, Sundowns deserve to represent the country at this much vaunted AFL, but what is the criteria to participate, they asked."
The PSL wanted to know if the AFL is a private organization and, in that case, needed guidance from SAFA whether they should trust the organization. They (PSL) also felt they had not been fully taken into confidence and informed about the competition and whether in future additional teams from South Africa would be invited and what would be the criteria? An urgent Board of Governors meeting last Friday, however, at which Sundowns were present, has resolved the impasse.
But There Are Also Benefits
The participation of Sundowns in the AFL is a massive boost to the club as well as the South African Premier League and no one doubts that on merit the Chloorkop side deserve the honour. The club has, over the last decade, been the most consistent participant in Pan-African club competitions, winning the pot of gold during the 2016 edition under Pitso Mosimane. In addition, they have been preparing and sharpening themselves for this particular competition since it was announced a year ago. They have gone on a massive talent recruitment drive and lured excellent personnel like Marcelo Allende, Lesiba Nku, Lucas Ribeiro Costa, Sipho Mbule, Teboho Mokoena and Abubeker Nassir, to mention just a few, in order to face the challenge.
There are those who feel that the Brazilians have a competent enough squad to field a strong enough squad in the AFL and still manage to field another squad capable of playing in the domestic league simultaneously.
"That may be true and they are indeed capable of that," agreed our source. "But the problem is that such a move would not be practical as it would be undermining our sponsors. "Make no mistake, I don't for a second doubt that with the kind of points lead they have already established in the DStv Championship, any player on the bench would still maintain their high standards even if the bulk of the squad only honoured AFL fixtures and the rest took part locally on the domestic front. But what message are you sending to a sponsor like DStv, who have invested R1 billion+ in the league?
"Don't you think they would feel that their investment is being devalued by Sundowns fielding a 'second-string' team in their competition and reserving their best squad for the AFL?"
As it is, Downs faced TS Galaxy in the Carling Knockout on Wednesday evening, before jetting off to Angola for the first leg of the AFL quarterfinals against Petro de Luanda on Saturday.
Fixture Backlog Is Real
The PSL therefore felt the new tournament would disrupt their own fixtures and unnecessarily prolong their programme. Six matches involving Sundowns and their opponents in the DStv Premiership are going to be affected by the AFL and it should be remembered that the league will also take another six-week break in January to accommodate the Afcon in Cote d'Ivoire after Bafana qualified. In many African countries, the clubs contest the league and either one or two cup competitions, so they usually do not have problems or experience a fixture congestion.
However, the situation in the most commercially successful league on the continent is completely different in that besides the league championship, clubs also contest the MTN8, the Carling Cup as well as the Nedbank Cup.
There is also the matter of FIFA-sanctioned dates that also eat up considerable weeks off the calendar and based on their programme, the League initially rejected the participation of Sundowns in the African Football League, before the last-minute change of heart.
What An Observer Says
"For the sake of sanity, I always hoped that our football administrators could find a way to allow Sundowns to participate in this competition. Had they remained steadfast and refused to budge, it would have sent a negative and wrong message to the rest of the world. No doubt it was a principled step taken by the PSL, but it would nonetheless have given the false impression that perhaps some of the club owners are jealous of the Sundowns success domestically.
And when one considers that the first prize in the AFL is R77 million, it could have been misinterpreted to imply that their opponents fear that if Sundowns wins that kind of cash, they could splash some of it on securing even more quality players and could end up becoming even impossible to match.
But painfully, it would also have been a slap in the face of Dr Patrice Motsepe, who was, until elected as CAF President recently, the chairman of Sundowns and we all know that this AFL is his brainchild. We also know that when GladAfrica withdrew from sponsoring the National First Division, it was Motsepe, through the family Foundation, who came to the rescue and bankrolled the League. I'm happy a middle ground has been found and Sundowns will be allowed to carry the South African flag in the competition."
