Dar honoured to host African League

TANZANIA has been honoured to host the inaugural match of the newly established African Football League whose first fixture will be played at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on October 20th.

Formerly known as CAF Super League, the competition will see eight heavyweight clubs in Africa chasing for an opportunity to make history of becoming the first team to put hands on the lucrative title.

Speaking at the CAF 45th Ordinary General Assembly held in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire on Thursday, CAF president Patrice Motsepe named Tanzania as the host of the inaugural match.

“The most important thing for us is to make this exciting competition succeed and is going to kick off on October 20th whose inaugural game will be played in Tanzania,” Motsepe said.

He also revealed that the reason they changed it from CAF Super League to African Football League was the negative experience with the Super League which was introduced in Europe.

However, the continent’s football governing body is yet to release the full fixture of the competition which will run simultaneously with the CAF Champions League.

Tanzania is going to be represented by Simba who are already on the ground preparing to do well in the competition hence a need for them to create a competitive squad.

Aside from trading in the African Football League, Simba will also feature in the champions league making the approaching 2023/24 season a busy one for the Reds.

It is another challenge for Brazilian coach Roberto Oliveira to ensure that he takes the club to big success on international scene where they eye to do well.

The full list of eight teams pegged to make debut appearance in the African Football League with their countries of origin in bracket are Simba (Tanzania), Horoya (Guinea), TP Mazembe (DR Congo) and Esperance (Tunisia).

Others are Al Ahly (Egypt), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Petro Atletico (Angola) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa).