The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Tuesday launched the Africa Super League (ASL), which promises the winner a helse $11.6m (R191m).
The new competition will kick off next year and will run from August 23 and May 24 and while no participants have been announced yet, the tournament will involve 24 of the continent’s top clubs from over 16 nations.
Eight of those teams will come from North Africa, eight from West-Central Africa and eight from South-East Africa.
IT'S HERE! 🙌
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Everything you need to know about the Africa Super League now live on YouTube. 👇
The final will be billed as the “Super Bowl” of Africa.
The first 24 participating clubs are set to receive an annual contribution of $2-5m (R33m-R82.5m) for being part of the ASL to use for expenses, including transport and player transfers.
The tournament is set to benefit the development of football in Africa to the tune of $4bn (R65bn), with Caf president Patrice Motsepe claiming that it will help keep talent from moving to competitions in Europe and abroad.
More details on the first-ever Africa Super League. ✨
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Get all the needed info now. 👇 pic.twitter.com/AZ70OonGQq
A solidarity fund of $54m (R890m) is also planned to fund the 54 Caf member associations with $1m (16.5m) per year to develop and grow their domestic game.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns chairman says: “The African Super League is one of the most exciting developments in the history of African football and the objective in terms of what we are trying to achieve is very clear, number one is to make sure African club football is world class and competes with the best in the world.”
Endless entertainment is upon us ♾
— CAF (@CAF_Online) August 10, 2022
Get ready for the #AfricaSuperLeague 🤩 https://t.co/wxTbZVVFdI
matthew.marcus@inl.co.za