After CAF President Patrice Motsepe indicated that the African Football League is set to return next season, question marks will remain on Kaizer Chiefs, after they dropped significantly in the Africa club rankings.
The AFL was paused for the current season to allow clubs that qualified for the expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup not to have a congested programme.
After Motsepe was re-elected unopposed as the CAF President recently, the mining mogul told the media in Cairo that the AFL is set to return for next season.
Plans were already afoot to expand the money-spinning tournament from eight teams, which was basically a trial run, to 16 or 24 teams in the next edition.
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It is unclear how teams would be invited to the expanded lucrative competition but reports circulated that CAF planned to invite Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa to join Mamelodi Sundowns.
However, Chiefs would be worried about their form if the rankings by Footballdatabase.com website would be anywhere close to a system that could be used by CAF to invite teams to the AFL.
The Glamour Boys have slipped down to number 100 in Africa, which is a very big chasm to Sundowns who are ranked at number two on the continent, only behind Al Ahly.
Pirates have been climbing the ladder in the aforesaid rankings by the statistics page, as they have climbed up to 11th in Africa, ahead of traditional powerhouses such as Wydad Casablanca and AS Vita Club.
Stellenbosch's consistent run has also seem them rise in the rankings, as they have been placed at number 44 in Africa.
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In South Africa alone, Chiefs are ranked eighth by the rankings website, the exact position they hold in the Betway Premiership.
However, Amakhosi were ranked 12th in Africa by FIFA in the Club World Cup ranking pathway, which considered results for the past four-year cycle (from 2021 to 2024).
The Buccaneers did not feature in the top 30 ranking by FIFA.