{"id":45818,"date":"2023-10-27T14:46:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T14:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off"},"modified":"2023-10-27T16:09:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T16:09:19","slug":"a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A litmus test\u2019 as the African Football League kicks off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Many are viewing Africa\u2019s newest club competition with interest \u2013 for its impact on the African game, and beyond.<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s newest club competition does not yet look how its founding fathers had first envisaged.<\/p>\n

The brainchild of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his Confederation of African Federations (CAF) counterpart Patrice Motsepe has been pared down from a 24-team mini-league and then knockout format to an eight-club knockout competition.<\/p>\n

Its prize money for the winner has shrunk from $11.5m to $4m, and there is still no television broadcast deal \u2013 the games will be streamed on YouTube.<\/p>\n

Until last week, the South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns were even banned from taking part by their country\u2019s football federation, who cited fixture congestion. That would have been very embarrassing for Motsepe, a billionaire businessman who also happens to be the owner of the Sundowns.<\/p>\n

But, after a late change of heart, the federation reversed its ban and a version of the inaugural African Football League finally kicks-off on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AFL is a titanic battle of strength versus strength between the giants of African football,\u201d CAF said this week, ahead of the tournament opener in Tanzania\u2019s capital where Simba SC face Egypt\u2019s Al Ahly, the reigning African champions.<\/p>\n

After quarterfinals and semifinals, a two-legged final will be played on November 5 and 11.<\/p>\n

The FIFA-CAF partnership still intends the AFL to become a greatly expanded version next season, closer to its original vision.<\/p>\n

And, as Nick Dall writes for Al Jazeera this week, many are viewing this inaugural iteration with interest \u2013 for its impact on the African game, and beyond.<\/p>\n

Few would argue that African club football is in good shape. While the situation varies widely, the continent\u2019s game is often held back by poor infrastructure, abuse of players\u2019 rights, corruption, political interference, and the plundering of talented young players by European clubs.<\/p>\n

In many places, the poor quality and the lure of watching the widely streamed English Premier League has led to a decline in interest in local teams. Even the CAF Champions League garners relatively little attention beyond the continent, and CAF is losing money.<\/p>\n

For Infantino and Motsepe, the AFL is the solution; the idea being that Africa\u2019s best clubs \u2013 usually also the richest, most popular, and most glamorous \u2013 play each other regularly, raising the quality and making the games more watchable, driving up interest and revenue.<\/p>\n

The revenues are shared, to some degree, with every country and are intended to raise standards across the continent.<\/p>\n

If the idea for the AFL sounds familiar, perhaps it\u2019s because of the European Super League, which dramatically imploded within 48 hours of its announcement in 2021. The AFL was initially called the Africa Super League, until that name was jettisoned due to the contaminated connotations.<\/p>\n

In some senses, the AFL is a very different beast: the ESL was a breakaway organisation that threatened the hegemony of FIFA and UEFA, the AFL is organised by CAF and FIFA. And the ESL was intended to be a closed shop of a select few teams, while the AFL is in theory a meritocracy, comprised of teams who earn their place on points.<\/p>\n

But while the AFL is not a replacement for the CAF Champions League, they are designed to run concurrently, it is a rival of sorts \u2013 currently equalling the prize money, even in its stripped-back format.<\/p>\n

A lot about the AFL remains unclear. How much of the revenues will be shared with other countries? Is any of it ring-fenced for football development? What is being done to mitigate the resulting fixture congestion?<\/p>\n

But from what we know, it seems there is a danger of repeating two major follies from European football.<\/p>\n

One danger is replicating the stark stratification of European football \u2013 both within leagues and between them \u2013 as the big clubs reap the financial rewards at the expense of smaller ones.<\/p>\n

The other is that it could presage the return of a new kind of European Super League: renamed, repackaged, probably not technically a closed shop but still operating along similar lines \u2013 but under UEFA and FIFA control.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the desire behind that kind of idea burns brightly among some in the highest echelons of football governance, as well as on the boards of some big European clubs.<\/p>\n

As Clint Roper, general manager of South Africa\u2019s Soccer-Laduma publication, told Al Jazeera on the AFL: \u201cIs this not a litmus test to show the European teams who wanted to form a breakaway league that this kind of thing can be done via a governing body and still be very lucrative?\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Many are viewing Africa\u2019s newest club competition with interest \u2013 for its impact on the African game, and beyond. Africa\u2019s newest club competition does not yet look how its founding fathers had first envisaged. The brainchild of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his Confederation of African Federations (CAF) counterpart Patrice Motsepe has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":45817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-45818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018A litmus test\u2019 as the African Football League kicks off - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many are viewing Africa\u2019s newest club competition with interest \u2013 for its impact on the African game, and beyond. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018A litmus test\u2019 as the African Football League kicks off\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many are viewing Africa\u2019s newest club competition with interest \u2013 for its impact on the African game, and beyond. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T14:46:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T16:09:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/10\/sm_1698410287.459841.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1296\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"729\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018A litmus test\u2019 as the African Football League kicks off\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-27T14:46:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-27T16:09:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off\"},\"wordCount\":789,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/10\/sm_1698410287.459841.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/a-litmus-test-as-the-african-football-league-kicks-off\",\"name\":\"\u2018A litmus test\u2019 as the African Football League kicks off - 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