The African Football League, formerly fronted as the Africa Super League, will kick off on 20 October 2023 with the first match being played in Tanzania.This is according to a confirmation by both the FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Dr. Patrice Motsepe during the 45th CAF Ordinary General Assembly in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday afternoon.Commenting on the change of name, Motsepe revealed that, it was necessitated by the negative experience with the proposed European Super League##NAJAVA_MECA_7365521##”We have changed the name and it’s now called the African Football League because of the negative experience with the Super League in Europe. These were some of the issues raised by our sponsors. The inaugural African Football League will kick off on the 20th of October in Tanzania,” Motsepe said.Although CAF is yet to formally announce the eight clubs that will participate, insiders at CAF reveal that Tanzania’s Simba SC is among the eight teams. the other seven teams are Egypt’s Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, Petro Atletico from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo’s TP Mazembe, Horoya from Guinea, Esperance of Tunisia, and Wydad Casablanca from Morocco.The competition will now see eight top clubs from eight African countries take part as opposed to the 24 club-proposal that had been floated initially.Speaking at the meeting, Infantino noted that the competition will expand in the future to allow room for more teams to take part.AFC Leopards reveal why Aussems turned down new contract”It will have eight great teams, which will be followed in the future with a bigger version. We have to invest in African club football as well as national team football. It is our responsibility, duty and task, and with the work and contribution of all of us as a team, we will succeed,” the FIFA boss said.Details of the format the competition will take remain scanty although it was revealed last year that the winner would take home USD 11.5 million (Ksh 1.6B).
