It may not be known to many Africans
that Esperance of Tunisia is facing TP Mazembe of DR Congo while Egyptian
Champions Al Ahly will face Sunshine Stars of Nigeria in the African Champions’
League semi finals this October.
As usual all eyes and hearts are on the UEFA
Champions league group stage. Esperence won the title last year after a
seventeen year wait but they have been runners-up thrice before. TP Mazembe of
DRC beat them on 6-1 aggregate in 2010 finals. Last year they beat Morocco’s Waydad
Casablanca to the crown by a 1-0 aggregate.
There are many things we can take note
of in this Premier CAF championships. Since 1991 only two clubs out of North
and West Africa in TP Mazembe and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates have won the
title. West African clubs have cut the dominance of the North Africans since
1998. Ivory Coast’s Asec Abijan, Hearts of Oak of Ghana and Enyimba of Nigeria
clinching the trophy.
This says a lot about our continental
championship as compared to the UEFA, or South American Copa Libertadore.
Africa lags behind, even after clinching the sponsorship from mobile telephone
giant Orange, little has changed. Even in the second tier Confederations Cup, Last
year Club Africain of Tunisia lost to Maghreb de Fes of Morroco in the finals.
The two continental championships are
a mirror of how things are bad in East, Central and Southern Africa in regards
to football. This year, Eastern Africa region had three representertives in the
Confederation Cup group stages; all from Sudan. Al Hilal Omdurman, El Mereikh
and Al Ahly Shendi.
First things first
First, our best players grace the
foreign leagues in droves. It is every players dream to play in the UEFA
champions’ league- UCL. McDonald Mariga and Samuel Eto’o are in a select contingent
of African players to ever lift the UCL trophy. With Seydou Keita of Mali said
to have pocketed an equivalent of Ksh. 90 million for winning the Champions League
with FC Barcelona in 2010.
Our football will not grow by
exporting our best talent, and no money is paid to their home federations every
year from the clubs or leagues in Europe. African football will only grow at
the rate which we are able to retain our best players in our local leagues. The
excuse we always lack of finances to put our football at par with the rest in
the world. We also acknowledge lack of depth in our organization and marketing
strategies.
African football will only grow at the rate which we are able to retain our best players in our local leagues
EUEFA History
UEFA Champions League was not an idea
of football fathers in Europe. In December 1954 French sports daily L'Equipe through their then-editor
Gabriel Hanot rooted for a European-wide club competition. It is Hanot,
together with colleague Jacques Ferran who came up with a blueprint for a
challenge tournament to be played on Wednesdays under floodlights.
The proposal was adopted by UEFA and it kicked off in 1955.
This makes it possible for a fan to
fly out from London to Milan Italy to watch a Champions League match. The flight
takes three hours but one hour is swallowed by time difference, so one can get
a late kick off in Milan and fly back home to be at work on Thursday morning.
It initially started as a competition
for clubs with massive fan base than clubs which won the league. This is
something CAF officials in Cairo can look at. CAF as is the African norm copied
the format for national league champions from UEFA yet they started from the
most popular clubs. It is never too late to take AFC Leopards or Gor Mahia from
Kenya in place of Sofapaka if that is what will make our Champions League
popular in Africa.
The current UEFA format of group stages came up as a
revolution in the 1992/93 season. As it is with us, CAF copy pasted the format
in 1997 when it may not have been ripe for Africa. CAF could be going down a
road without the backing of the African passionate fans. The most logical thing
to do is to stop and re-strategize.
In South America teams
qualify to the Copa Libertadores by winning half-year tournaments called the Apertura (opening) and Clausura
(clossing) tournaments.
This is where the national league is divided into two parts and the winners go
for a playoff. Only Brazil brings teams that have finished top in their
championship. The championship is growing in leaps and bounds, as more teams
out of the national top flights have a chance for continental appearance.
It is good to note that TP Mazembe
beat two South American clubs, Pachuca
of Mexico and Internacionale of Brazil on their way to the final with Inter
Millan in 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. This
is evidence that Africa can stand up to the world in football. In 2011
Esperence bowed out after losing the first two matches.
It is never too late to take AFC Leopards or Gor Mahia from
Kenya in place of Sofapaka if that is what will make our Champions League
popular in Africa.
Africa is a
special continent in terms of people’s diversity and economic standard
disparities. We should come up with a football formula that suits us well. The
media can be engaged more to report on major African leagues with the same zeal
that I get to watch and read about European Leagues. Someone in Yaunde Cameroun
can get to hear of FC Sofapaka before the Champions League starts.
It is time CAF looked at
the reason why North and West Africans have dominated the show. Yet it is
obvious that the likes of PSL of South Africa among others are good leagues as
well. There could be a disconnect between what is on the ground and what CAF
knows or tries to do from Cairo.
We can go the Brazilian
way as a continent, where clubs play in the state leagues between January and
April then go into the national championships till the end of the year. CAF can
strengthen the four regional Confederations; Eastern Africa’s CECAFA, Southern Africa COSAFA, West
African WAFU, Central Africa UNIFAC and North Africa’s UNAFF. CECAFA and UNIFAC
both claim to serve Central Africa, something that can be sorted. The regional
champions and runners up can then go into the knock out stage.
This is some sort of
affirmative action to allow every region a chance of being in the group stage.
It will in turn build a fan base and support from across the continent.
Sponsors will be more attracted to come on board if the whole of Africa will be
watching.
This will build up
momentum for the continental show piece. We build the parts to assemble a
worthwhile whole. It is easier for a fan to travel to Kigali from Nairobi by
road or air to cheer his team. I can easily take a bus ride to Dar-es-salam or
Lusaka to watch my team play than fly to North Africa.
Transport
One important hindrance to
the growth of African Continental Club championship is our poor transport
system. It is expensive for a fan to travel from East Africa to West Africa
without connecting to Dubai or Europe. European fans can fly in and out of a
country to watch a match with much ease.
Tunisia is more connected to Spain than Kenya. CAF can engage Airlines,
Africa Union and Regional Economic Blocks to develop sound transport systems.
This initiative is not
only bound to develop football but tourism and trade as well. When Africa
interacts with itself, we can get to share ideas without waiting for a prompt
from Europe. I will be glad to watch TP Mazembe play Kenyan Champions in
Nairobi and maybe I can get a good excuse to savour the beauty of Lubumbashi.
UEFA and Copa Libertadores
are way ahead, but we can create our own path. An appearance in UEFA even if
you exit at the play offs is guarantee of income to a club. We can create a
simple system where clubs get to the money bracket from the word go in regional
championships.
African Champions League can produce stars; we don’t have to
wait for our players to go to Europe for the rest of Africa to know them.
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