2023 African Football League

2023 African Football League

Tournament details
Dates	20 October – 12 November 2023
Teams	8 (from 8 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Mamelodi Sundowns (1st title)
Runners-up	Wydad AC
Tournament statistics
Matches played	14
Goals scored	24 (1.71 per match)
Attendance	547,000 (39,071 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Thapelo Maseko Mahmoud Kahraba Sadio Kanouté (2 goals each)
Best player(s)	Thapelo Maseko
Best goalkeeper	Ronwen Williams
2024–25 →

The 2023 African Football League was the first edition of Africa's newest club football tournament, the African Football League, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

This season was meant to be a precursor tournament to the full fledged version, which will start in the 2024–25 season, after being delayed a year.

Background

The competition, initially announced in 2022 as the Africa Super League, was to involve 24 teams divided into three geographical regions and have a promotion-relegation system. The competition was delayed from August to October 2023, renamed to the African Football League, and revised into an eight-team knockout format for its inaugural season. This season is meant to be a precursor, as the originally announced format will be introduced starting in 2024–25.

Schedule

The schedule was as follows. ^[1]

Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Quarter-finals	2 September 2023	20–22 October 2023	24–25 October 2023
Semi-finals		29 October 2023	1 November 2023
Final		5 November 2023	12 November 2023

Format

Each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was not played and the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Teams

The African Football League involved 8 teams chosen by the CAF^{[ how? ]} to enter the tournament.

Petro de Luanda

TP Mazembe

Al Ahly

Enyimba

Wydad AC

Mamelodi Sundowns

Simba

Espérance de Tunis

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Location of teams of the 2023 African Football League

Pot 2	Pot 1
Petro de Luanda TP Mazembe Enyimba Simba	Al Ahly Wydad AC Mamelodi Sundowns Espérance de Tunis

Bracket

The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals, semi-finals and final), which was held on 2 September 2023, 16:00 GMT (19:00 local time, UTC+3), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. ^[1]

	Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Enyimba	0	0	0
	Wydad AC	1	3	4
							Wydad AC (p)	1	0	1 (5)
							Espérance de Tunis	0	1	1 (4)
	TP Mazembe	1	0	1
	Espérance de Tunis	0	3	3
													Wydad AC	2	0	2
													Mamelodi Sundowns	1	2	3
	Petro de Luanda	0	0	0
	Mamelodi Sundowns	2	0	2
							Mamelodi Sundowns	1	0	1
							Al Ahly	0	0	0
	Simba	2	1	3
	Al Ahly (a)	2	1	3

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 20, 21 and 22 October, and the second legs were played on 24 and 26 October 2023. ^[1]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Simba	3–3 (a)	Al Ahly	2–2	1–1
TP Mazembe	1–3	Espérance de Tunis	1–0	0–3
Enyimba	0–4	Wydad AC	0–1	0–3
Petro de Luanda	0–2	Mamelodi Sundowns	0–2	0–0

20 October 2023 (2023-10-20)

18:00  UTC+3

Simba	2–2	Al Ahly
Denis 53' Kanouté 59'	Report	Slim 45+1' Kahraba 63'

Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, Dar es Salaam

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Dahane Beida (Mauritania)

24 October 2023 (2023-10-24)

17:00  UTC+3

Al Ahly	1–1	Simba
Kahraba 76'	Report	Kanouté 68'

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo (DR Congo)

3–3 on aggregate. Al Ahly won on away goals.

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22 October 2023 (2023-10-22)

18:00  UTC+3

TP Mazembe	1–0	Espérance de Tunis
Fofana 11'	Report

Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Mahmood Ismail (Sudan)

26 October 2023 (2023-10-26)

16:00  UTC+1

Espérance de Tunis	3–0	TP Mazembe
Ouahabi 45' Bouguerra 76' Tougai 86'	Report

Stade Hammadi Agrebi, Tunis

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Abongile Tom (South Africa)

Espérance de Tunis won 3–1 on aggregate.

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22 October 2023 (2023-10-22)

19:00  UTC+1

Enyimba	0–1	Wydad AC
	Report	Jabrane 39' (pen.)

Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Alhadi Allaou Mahamat (Chad)

26 October 2023 (2023-10-26)

19:00  UTC+1

Wydad AC	3–0	Enyimba
El Amloud 4' Harkass 38' Attiyat Allah 43'	Report

Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Pierre Atcho (Gabon)

Wydad AC won 4–0 on aggregate.

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21 October 2023 (2023-10-21)

16:30  UTC+1

Petro de Luanda	0–2	Mamelodi Sundowns
	Report	Allende 67' Maseko 80'

Estádio 11 de Novembro, Luanda

Attendance: 42,000

Referee: Ibrahim Mutaz (Libya)

24 October 2023 (2023-10-24)

19:00  UTC+2

Mamelodi Sundowns	0–0	Petro de Luanda
	Report

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)

Mamelodi Sundowns won 2–0 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 29 October, and the second legs were played on 1 November 2023. ^[1]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Mamelodi Sundowns	1–0	Al Ahly	1–0	0–0
Wydad AC	1–1 (5–4 p)	Espérance de Tunis	1–0	0–1

29 October 2023 (2023-10-29)

15:00  UTC+2

Mamelodi Sundowns	1–0	Al Ahly
Maseko 52'	Report

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Djindo Louis Houngnandande (Benin)

1 November 2023 (2023-11-01)

20:00  UTC+2

Al Ahly	0–0	Mamelodi Sundowns
	Report

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Issa Sy (Senegal)

Mamelodi Sundowns won 1–0 on aggregate.

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29 October 2023 (2023-10-29)

19:00  UTC+1

Wydad AC	1–0	Espérance de Tunis
Boussefiane 58'	Report

Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Amin Omar (Egypt)

1 November 2023 (2023-11-01)

16:00  UTC+1

Espérance de Tunis	1–0	Wydad AC
Rodrigues 66'	Report
Penalties
Meriah Rodrigues Derbali Bouchniba Tougai	4–5	Jabrane El Amloud Aboulfath Ounajem Sambou

Stade Hammadi Agrebi, Tunis

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya)

1–1 on aggregate. Wydad AC won 5–4 on penalties.

Final

Main article: 2023 African Football League final

The first leg was played on 5 November, and the second leg was played on 12 November 2023. ^[1]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Wydad AC	2–3	Mamelodi Sundowns	2–1	0–2

5 November 2023 (2023-11-05)

19:00  UTC+1

Wydad AC	2–1	Mamelodi Sundowns
Coetzee 41' (o.g.) Serrhat 78'	Report	Boutouil 74' (pen.)

Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Mahmood Ismail (Sudan)

12 November 2023 (2023-11-12)

15:00  UTC+2

Mamelodi Sundowns	2–0	Wydad AC
Shalulile 45+3' Modiba 53'	Report

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo (DR Congo)

Mamelodi Sundowns won 3–2 on aggregate.

Top goalscorers

  Team eliminated / inactive for the round.

Rank	Player	Team	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	F1	F2	Total
1	Thapelo Maseko	Mamelodi Sundowns	1		1				2
	Mahmoud Kahraba	Al Ahly	1	1
	Sadio Kanouté	Simba	1	1
4	Yahia Attiyat Allah	Wydad AC		1					1
	Hicham Boussefiane	Wydad AC			1
	Ayoub El Amloud	Wydad AC		1
	Jamal Harkass	Wydad AC		1
	Yahya Jabrane	Wydad AC	1
	Anas Serrhat	Wydad AC					1
	Marcelo Allende	Mamelodi Sundowns	1
	Abdelmounaim Boutouil	Mamelodi Sundowns					1
	Peter Shalulile	Mamelodi Sundowns						1
	Aubrey Modiba	Mamelodi Sundowns						1
	Reda Slim	Al Ahly	1
	Mohamed Amine Tougai	Espérance de Tunis		1
	Rodrigo Rodrigues	Espérance de Tunis				1
	Oussama Bouguerra	Espérance de Tunis		1
	Ghaith Ouahabi	Espérance de Tunis		1
	Cheick Oumar Abdallah Fofana	TP Mazembe	1
	Kibu Denis	Simba	1

See also

• 2023–24 CAF Champions League
• 2023–24 CAF Confederation Cup
• 2023 CAF Women's Champions League

References

1. "The inaugural African Football League (AFL) kicks off in October 2023 and will be preceded by official draw on Saturday 2 September 2023". Confederation of African Football. 29 August 2023.

External links

• CAFonline.com
• African Football League – AFL