Sunday | November 12, 2023
After all the long journeys throughout Africa, in its vastness, it has all come this: the very final match of the brand new African Football League (AFL) crown.
Never before has the continent been brought to its feet by two time-tested titans of African football. The 8-team Inaugural African Football League is coming to a scintillating finale where the all-conquering champions will be crowned.
The second of the AFL final between Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (FC) and Wydad Athletic Club (AC) at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria will start at 15h00 South African time.
Wydad come into this cup decider with 2-1 advantage from the first-leg which was played last Sunday, Nov. 5 in Morocco.
Sundowns are on the back foot and have a lot to ponder of coming into this historic first-of-its-kind final. They have two things going for them:
- they have scored an away goal which means a one-goal victory will see them crowned the new champions;
- they are playing in familiar territory in front of the fans.
However, Wydad AC has it all to play for. All they need to do is to protect their advantage by not conceding a goal or trying to score.
Of course, a stalemate will see the new trophy be determined on the lottery of penalties.
To a legion of fans who will descend to Pretoria in Gauteng, this promises to be a humdinger of a match between the giants of African football.
On Sept. 30th, CAF published the following figures that winners and participants of the brand new AFL offers in prize money:
- USD $4 000 000 for the Winner
- USD $3 000 000 for the Runner-up
- USD $1 700 000 for each of the Semi-finalists
- USD $1 000 000 for each of the Quarter-finalists