CAF must show SA clubs the money

The winners of the ABSA PSL win R10 million; the winners of the MTN Super 8 win R8 million; the winners of the Nedbank Cup win R6 million and the winners of the Telkom Knockout win R4.25 million. That’s a whopping R28, 25 million total annual prize money for all the official PSL tournaments.

Now juxtapose this with the offerings from the CAF pan-African club tournaments.  The CAF Champions league offers the winners US$1 million which converts to about R10 million and the winners of the secondary CAF Confederation Cup get US$300 000 which converts to about R3 million. Lastly, and certainly least of all, the winners of the CAF Super Cup earn US$75 000 which is about R750 000. That’s total prize money of about R13, 75 million annually.

Previously, there was no prize money available for the CAF club tournaments so the recent introduction of prize money is a giant leap forwards for African football. This prize money is also considered good money in the rest of Africa but NOT in South Africa. Granted winning the CAF Champions League has got the added benefit of participation in the FIFA World Club Cup, which results in substantial earnings as well as global exposure for the participating team. But realistically speaking only the top 4 or 5 clubs in South Africa have such lofty ambitions.

The point is that CAF has got to rise to the party. They have to set the benchmark and make sure that the CAF Competitions are not only the most prestigious on the continent, but also the most lucrative for all clubs, including South African ones. These tournaments feature the very best of locally based African talent and should therefore be marketed accordingly. This exposes the limitations of the CAF bosses. Issa Hayatou, the President of CAF, has been at the helm of the organisation since 1988 and his tenure was recently extended to 2013.  By the time it expires he would have served for 25 years, which is much too long.

Despite all he has done for African soccer, he has taken the organisation as far as he can go.  We need fresh new leadership with today’s advanced training to add a cutting edge to our football. Only then can CAF devise ways to make the CAF Club tournaments way more rewarding, both tangibly and intangibly, than the local richly sponsored tournaments. In this regard South African sponsors have shown the way and it’s up to the other global African brands to come to the party.

I speak for SA clubs when I say to CAF, “Show us the money.”