A big meeting by CAF has been confirmed amid widespread reports that the African Football League will be expanded.
African football's organising body will host an CAF Executive Committee (EXCO) meeting in Rabat, Morocco, later today.
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The gathering is greatly anticipated following reports of a possible expansion of the African Football League, which had its inaugural edition in 2023 and was eventually won by Mamelodi Sundowns, who walked away with $4 million (approximately R75 million last year) in prize money.
The competition was introduced last year with eight participating teams, namely: Downs, Simba SC, Petro de Luanda, Al Ahly, Enyimba, Esperance de Tunis, TP Mazembe and Wydad Casablanca.
Various reports this week have suggested that the AFL may be set to become Africa's flagship club tournament, potentially overtaking the CAF Champions League in terms of prominence, and that the competition will be expanded to 24 teams, and the prize money increased too.
There has even been speculation that one of the continent's other major competitions, namely the CAF Confederation Cup, may be scrapped to accommodate the new AFL.
However, no official details on the subject have emerged as yet.
Meanwhile, CAF president Patrice Motsepe, who will chair the EXCO meeting, spoke of the intended financial benefits of the AFL during a recent visit to Angola.
"It’s a very good question [on how talents in Africa can be developed], that's why we introduced the African Football League," he said, according to Goal.
"The Motsepe Foundation has been involved in football for more than 20 years because we love football and it's a means to give back to the people of South Africa and the people of Africa.
"The young Africans go to Europe, America, and some even South America because historically they receive more money there. I have always encouraged players, because football is a short career, whilst you play, you have to make as much money as possible.
"I encourage them to make as much money as possible for the future when they don't play football.
"But I can assure you that 60% to 80% of the players who play outside Africa, we can compete with what they are paid in the Scandinavian countries, we used to see how much the highest-paid players get in Denmark.
"We used to see the highest-paid players in Norway, in Finland, Sweden, and many other countries, we can compete and pay our African players more than what they get in those countries."
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