With Pitso Mosimane having shared his honest opinion on the African Football League, there is enough evidence to suggest that the tournament was a complete flop.
The inaugural African Football League brought a lot of excitement for a select few clubs and their supporters as eight teams battled it out for the trophy across 24 days. After just six games played, Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned the inaugural champions after defeating Moroccan giants Wydad Casablanca in the two-legged final, claiming a mouthwatering prize of R75 million.
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While the tournament was a profitable exercise for the eight participating teams as each of them was guaranteed $1 million (R18 million), nothing can mask the fact that the competition was a watered-down version of the initial concept of the AFL.
Speaking recently at a conference organised by the South African Football Journalists' Association, Mosimane said the only thing he liked about the tournament was the money it awarded the competing teams.
"That's a tournament, that's not 'CAF'; if you're talking about this tournament that Sundowns just won, where you hand-pick, I don't know how many teams, Eight? Eight out of 54 countries so that's a tournament. I don't know," the South African tactician said. "I think, for me, the only thing that I really like about this tournament is the financials behind it. Empowering clubs, clubs getting more money, but that's it, that's about it.
"How do you come to be invited, I don't know. Is it points-based on CAF? And I just think there are other clubs like Raja Casablanca – I'm just making an example – there are a lot of clubs that have more points. I mean, Orlando Pirates have been there all the time, same as Kaizer Chiefs, who have just been in the Champions League final, but I don't know how Simba has more points."
The original idea for the AFL was first revealed at the 2020 CAF Annual Congress, which was held in December that year in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is here where FIFA president Gianni Infantino proposed a 24-team tournament with $200 million (R3.7 billion) in prize money. CAF would later run with this concept, confirming in 2022 that the tournament would indeed proceed but with just $100 million (R1.8 billion) in prize money and the winner walking away with $11.5 million (R211 million).
However, many of those initial plans fell apart as the number of participants was cut from 24 to eight teams and its format changed from a mini-league to a two-legged knockout. The prize money was also significantly reduced. As noted by Mosimane, a number of top teams were not included in the event, although there are reports that the eight clubs were chosen based on rankings points, with no more than one representative per country.
The trophy was only unveiled a day before the tournament started. and its main sponsor, Visit Saudi, only came on board just over a week before the AFL kicked off. The competition was hugely overstated prior to its undertaking and the outcome was simply a watered-down event with massive promise.
Many feel it lacks the prestige of the CAF Champions League, and the fact that the AFL was squeezed into the calendar led to complaints from some of the coaches involved, including Al Ahly's Marcel Koller.
It was also different from the commercial success it promised to be as all games were broadcasted via the tournament's official website instead of the broadcasting rights being sold to major TV companies from across the globe. Some critics have even argued that the money should have been used to uplift the flagship CAFCL instead of the Super League concept that has so far failed to come to fruition in Europe.
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Certainly, a lot of homework needs to be done ahead of its second instalment.
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