Mamelodi Sundowns’ participation in the inaugural African Football League
(AFL) remains in the balance as they are yet to be endorsed by the PSL.
The Brazilians were the only team in the PSL to have been invited by CAF,
among the eight, to participate in the AFL, however, the League is
reportedly not happy with how their invitation was handled after they
received a letter from a third party requesting for Sundowns’ fixtures to
be rescheduled.
The PSL had a board of governors meeting last week, where they agreed not
to accept for the Brazilians’ fixtures to be rescheduled, as Sundowns’ AFL
fixtures clash with the Carling Knockout Cup. Initially, the tournament
dubbed the African Super League was supposed to consist of 24 teams, where
Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates were set to be involved but the
competition was cut down to eight teams for its first season for
sponsorship reasons and will have 24 teams in its second season, as
originally planned.
Jomo Cosmos owner and decorated South African legend Jomo Sono, who was
not part of the BoG meeting after his team was relegated to the ABC
Motsepe League, says he would not vote against Sundowns participating in
the AFL, as the tournament represents progress in football and argues that
fixtures can always be amended.
“I wouldn’t vote against anything that is bringing progress in football.
You can definitely rest assured my vote would not be counted (against
AFL),” Sono said on Marawa Sports Worldwide. “I’ve read reports that the
fixture has been done, blah, blah, blah but it has happened before where
the fixture was changed, because a certain team has qualified for this and
this, then we change fixtures. We ended up having a (bio) bubble during
the off season, it can be done. There’s nothing impossible in football,
you can change the fixtures, they must sit down and talk to each other and
find a solution. Let Sundowns go and compete,” he said.
SAFA have released a statement backing the advent of the AFL. However, the
PSL is yet to publicly comment on the Super League, which gets underway on
20 October. The winners prize money for the tournament was also announced
to be $4 million (+-R77 million), $3 million for the runners up and $1,7
million each for the semi-finalist.
𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗔𝗙 𝗖𝗟
Mamelodi Sundowns saw off FC Bumamuru with a 2-0 win and a massive 6-0 win on aggregate. 👆
Goals from Mothobi Mvala and Teboho Mokoena sees Rulani Mokwena's men move on to CAF Champions League group stages.▶️ pic.twitter.com/yzfn5ngGZe
— Sahil Ebrahim (@sahil_e_) September 30, 2023
