What about Africa in the Super, Champions Leagues?

Our editor Ignat Manjoo writes about the responsibility of continental competition to constantly improve our national teams from South Africa to Africa, Europe and globally.

Starting with Bafana's road to the Afcon

After two games in Group M, Bafana Bafana’s in last position with just one point gained. We drew 0-0 against Gambia and lost 3-1 away to Mauritania. Yet, there’s still four games to go and we’re not out of the running. However after a poor start against what was on paper our easier games, we now have to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations the hard way. As South Africa already knows, next up is a double-header against Cameroon.

Even optimistic fans and realists would be hoping for an away draw on Saturday, followed by a home win next Tuesday. We’d be making a big mistake playing for a draw away against Cameroon. Our critics may feel it’s unrealistic to hope for more against one of Africa’s giants, but Cameroon have suffered their fair share of poor results in Africa in recent years. It’s possible to beat them, and our head-to-head record is superior.

The reason we shouldn’t hope for a draw away is because after three games that would take us to two points, while Cameroon would move to seven. We’d still be a significant five behind them and they could easily stifle the flow of movement in the return match. So Bafana Bafana must beat them away to place the pressure on Cameroon for the return tie. More so, if we don’t win away, we ourselves would be under tremendous pressure in a do-or-die game on Tuesday. Shakes Mashaba is still hanging on the hope that SA could qualify amongst the two best second placed teams. We shouldn’t hold out for that because at the moment amongst second placed teams there's Morocco who got six points and Zambia’s got five points. We can’t rely on all the second spot teams to do us a favour. Our destiny needs to be in our own hands, and the only way we can achieve that is by beating Cameroon home and away. If we can’t believe in our ability to do that then we’re wasting our time in the Afcon. You have to be bold to achieve anything. This is not Germany. It’s Cameroon.

International progress stems from Caf club competitions

Mashaba boasted an outstanding away record when we qualified for the 2015 Afcon, so there’s no reason to doubt our abilities away this time. Back then we stood on the shoulders of Orlando Pirates' outstanding run to the Caf Champions League final. We underestimate the importance of Caf club competition and these experiences are precisely what helps us reach the all-important tournaments. This time we can also bank on Pirates' experience in reaching the Caf Confederation Cup, while Mamelodi Sundowns are flying the flag in the Champions League. Our players from the Kaizer Chiefs camp will not be in high spirits after a poor domestic campaign and also crashing out of the CAFCL last weekend.

Recently with all the talk about a European Super League, I was wondering about the hypothetical scenario of an African Super League. You know Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and even Manchester City are concerned about losing out on the lucrative Uefa Champions League next season. There’s been controversy regarding guaranteed entries into a Super League of the future. Now, with South African clubs boasting that they’re amongst the best run financially in the continent, it’d make sense that if there ever was an African Super League that the likes of Pirates, Chiefs and Sundowns should get automatic entry. I know you’re laughing. I'm smiling.

We can’t just leave the greedy selfish thoughts to come from European giants. Chiefs like to think of themselves as a giant and glamour club in this continent, but I wonder if they’d be interested in participating in an African Super League even if they got automatic entry? That’s a strange question to ask, and underlines the problem in Africa. If you throw Chiefs millions of rands then they’d surely be interested to produce their best.

No? You see, the lack of financial incentive with the CAFCL is the biggest concern for our local clubs. In any case a Super League is obviously a threat to the proper governance of football throughout a continent. It’s only fair for all African nations to have an equal chance to get into the CAFCL. Same thing in Europe. So, my question is hypothetical: can we attract an outstanding financial deal for an African Super League? From experience, you know we need to attract European clubs into that equation.

Europe should care about other continents too

I posed that question so that we can think about the bigger picture. You see, Europe talks about how their proposed Super League would ruin football as they know it in their continent. However it seems they don’t care about the impact the Uefa Champions League already has, not only in Eastern Europe and smaller nations there, but particularly on the club football scene in the rest of the world. Even South American club football is not as strong as it used to be a few decades ago. When I was a child European clubs would fear taking on a Brazilian or Argentinian team. Not today.

Everyone's talking about the UCL because of the prizemoney and TV deals. If the authorities in Europe really cared about football (as they sometimes claim to), they should be talking about world football and not just their continent. If they want to promote this sport worldwide, then they should be talking about uplifting the Club World Cup and not the European Champions League. We should want stronger River Plate’s, Santos’, Al Ahly’s and clubs around the world to take on the best in Europe. At the moment it’s unrealistic to even think about that ideal, as the Club World Cup in it’s present format is a joke.

Why shouldn’t the likes of River Plate challenge Barcelona and Bayern Munich? After all, these great South American players are moving to Europe due to the riches of the Uefa competition. Yes, they also want to represent famous clubs such as Real Madrid, but teams like Chelsea and Manchester City have rebuilt their brands in recent years. So, clubs around the world should be given the chance to do likewise. Then the foreign billionaires could invest in football back home because they'd have a chance to compete in the same competition with European clubs. Even development in South America, particularly Brazil has slowed down in recent years due to the vast amount of players wasted overseas at a young age. They need to develop at home and this is where the European system is already harmfully impacting other continents. My aim is not to weaken European club football. I’m talking about including the rest of the world in the party. Give us an equal chance to qualify for it, and instead of 32 European teams, make it 32 teams from around the world. Fifa thinks globally for their World Cup, so there is room for club football to dream too.

What the European powers are playing for

Even though Europe doesn’t prioritise football development in Africa, I will care to offer a solution for their own Champions League. To me it’s obvious that once again all this talk about a Super League is just for the big boys to place further pressure on the system. After that threat, the smaller boys will get scared and submit to allow some serious changes to the current Uefa Champions League format. I’d prefer an expanded Champions League than a Super League because your Leicester City's deserve their spot. So, for example in England you would have six entrees instead of the current four. The qualifying rounds will have to increase to accommodate this and smaller nations' champions will be the losers at the end of the day. The sixth placed team in England should beat a champion nation from an Eastern European country. The supporters of this idea would say, 'Why not? We want the best 32 teams'. They don't want Roma vs Red Star Belgrade. Yes, I remember the days when Red Star was the best in Europe, until AC Milan bought a few of their players. That typified the power of television media on football from the 90s, then we had the Champions League and now the new format is on the table.

Increasing the number of qualifying teams per nation will weaken the Europa League again. For this reason, it makes sense that the Europa League should be a qualifying arena for the main tournament. It was an important improvement to allow the Europa League winners automatic entry into the Champions League from last year. This can be further improved by allowing all eight of the quarter-finalists entry into the qualifying stage of the Champions League, with the two finalists getting automatic entry into the group stage. If they don’t do this, then the Europa League will gradually become more and more insignificant. They wouldn’t need to scrap the tournament if it’s used as a qualifying system for the Champions League. Today, we're hearing about two divisions of Super Leagues in Europe. I'd prefer two group stages if you want more games against better teams.

Above all, with any expanded European or (my preferred) World club competition, in order for players to contend with the fixture schedule, they would first need to reduce the number of teams in the domestic leagues. That way, the famous clubs could still field full strength starting line-ups for both their domestic league and continental competition. The smaller domestic clubs will protest, but it’s a worthwhile compromise to avoid a total destruction of leagues.

As for Africa, you know the score, we always copy Europe's formats and titles. We changed our league names to Premier League and our main Caf competition in Africa to Champions League. So, if Europe even chooses the Super League format, we'd be sure to follow. Instead of following to our own detriment, we should sit on the same table with Uefa to plan what's best for all continents.