FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended the African Super League’s formation, saying it is a completely different idea and proposition from the botched European version of the same.
The global football chief said this when he addressed the media in Tanzania where the African Super League was launched on Wednesday with $100 million prize money package at stake.
“It is something else. It has nothing to do with what was discussed in Europe or what was at some stage in Europe. It is a completely different proposal. It is a completely different competition. It is a competition that is done within the institutions by CAF together with FIFA,” he said.
“It is a competition that puts together the best clubs on the continent and opens up more than today’s CAF champions League to more countries, to more clubs, increases prize money and increases solidarity.”
CAF President Patrice Motsepe echoed the FIFA head’s sentiments, saying: “The African Super League is one of the most exciting developments in the history of African football.”
The launch happened amid questions from some quarters on its format of play, how it will be different from the CAF Champions League and the European Super League which elite clubs wanted to form only to be thwarted by FIFA and the UEFA.
A few days ago, the South African Football Players Union slammed the new African league, saying “professional football in South Africa and Africa could be at risk if the resolution to commence with the Super League is implemented and there may be no return from the wreckage that a Super League can become.”
According to Motsepe and Infantino, unlike the botched European version, the African one will not be a closed shop with underperforming teams set to get the chop. In what is expected to push the participating teams to fight, there will be promotion and relegation in the competition.
