Super League: Is an African Super League feasible?

The European Football scene was hit early this week with news of the European Super League announcement, with 12 teams from 3 European nations, namely England, Spain, and Italy confirming their participation, with no representatives from Germany and France.

The founding teams were AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

The league, which would have hosted Europe’s richest clubs except for Bayern and Dortmund, got news of a financial boost as JP Morgan Chase, a US investment bank, also announced on Monday that it is funding the new season of the breakout league, the European Super League in a €4 billion ($4.8 billion) bet. The teams in the league were expected to share €3.5 billion ($4.21 billion) to spend on infrastructure and rehabilitation from the COVID-19 pandemic by a private corporation that will own the league.

However, by Tuesday evening, the Super League was pretty much dead, as the announcements precipitated anger from fans, footballers, ex-players and pundits all calling for the idea of a Super League to be killed. Later that evening, all six English clubs announced their withdrawal from the breakaway European Super League following protests and furious condemnations from the football community including football’s governing bodies.

Arsenal apologised for their ‘mistake’ saying: “As a result of listening to you and the wider football community over recent days we are withdrawing from the proposed Super League. We made a mistake, and we apologise for it.”

The European Super League idea failed because football is not only a sport in Europe, it’s a mega money-making institution, used to whitewash dictatorships (PSG-Qatar) and to generate billions in direct and indirect revenue for governments.

However, the reverse is the case in Africa, where the only semblance of a properly structured league football are in South Africa and the North African Leagues. Add the fact that European Football is easily available, and you get a situation where young Africans would rather watch midtable European league football than the CAF Champions League for Africa.

FIFA’s solution

In 2020, FIFA President Gianni Infantino disclosed that there are talks of an African Super League which he says can generate revenues of $200 million in a radical plan to reform African football.

“I want to create a real pan-African league that would feature 20-24 clubs with a maximum of maybe two clubs per country that would still play in their national leagues but that would play during the year so we can really crown the club champions of Africa,” Infantino said. “We have had some serious problems in Africa and it has to change. It has to change the way we do the business of football, it has to take on board the basic elements of good governance. There needs to be proper competition infrastructure. I think it is fair to say that competitions in Africa are 30-to-40 times less successful than in Europe.”