Amid reports of the Confederation of African Football wanting to make a significant changes to the inter club competitions, CAF have now responded to these rumours.
A report by Africa Top Sports claims that CAF is planning a major revamp of its club competitions, including the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
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It is said that an iteration of these tournaments is largely driven by the introduction of the African Football League, which had its maiden season in 2023, where Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned the inaugural winners.
The aforementioned publication claims that this has led CAF to explore strategies to revamp and strengthen African club football, and the organisation is said to have proposed several key changes to improve the marketing appeal and competitive structure of the events.
Among the proposed adjustments is an expansion of the Champions League format and the possible discontinuation of the CAF Confederation Cup.
It is also reported that CAF is weighing up the possibility of making the African Football League its core competition, while an expanded Champions League may see the leading football nations gain an increase of 3-4 additional teams participating in the tournament.
A 32-team group stage in the Champions League is said to have been contemplated, which could see top-seeded clubs such as Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns, Esperance de Tunis, Simba SC, and RS Berkane exempt from preliminary qualifying rounds.
The report also indicates that there are proposed changes to the match calendar to accommodate the expansion of the Champions League and African Football League.
When reaching out to CAF media officer Lux September for a right of reply, the official had made it clear that the above mentioned report was "fake news".
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By Lukhanyo Mtuta
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