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2023 African Football League

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


Tournament details
20 October – 12 November 2023
8 (from 8 associations)
Mamelodi Sundowns (1st title)
Wydad AC
14
24 (1.71 per match)
547,000 (39,071 per match)
Thapelo Maseko Mahmoud Kahraba Sadio Kanouté(2 goals each)
Thapelo Maseko
Ronwen Williams
2024–25 →

The 2023 African Football League was the first and only edition of Africa's international 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.

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 was meant to be a precursor, as the originally announced format was supposed to be introduced starting in 2024–25, though this was later cancelled.

The schedule was as follows.

RoundDraw dateFirst legSecond leg
Quarter-finals2 September 202320–22 October 202324–25 October 2023
Semi-finals29 October 20231 November 2023
Final5 November 202312 November 2023

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.

The African Football League involved 8 teams chosen by the CAF to enter the tournament.

Pot 2Pot 1
Petro de Luanda
TP Mazembe
Enyimba
Simba.mw-parser-output .div-col{margin-top:0.3em;column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .div-col-small{font-size:90%}.mw-parser-output .div-col-rules{column-rule:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .div-col dl,.mw-parser-output .div-col ol,.mw-parser-output .div-col ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .div-col li,.mw-parser-output .div-col dd{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}
Al Ahly
Wydad AC
Mamelodi Sundowns
Espérance de Tunis

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.

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

Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Simba3–3 (a)Al Ahly2–21–1
TP Mazembe1–3Espérance de Tunis1–00–3
Enyimba0–4Wydad AC0–10–3
Petro de Luanda0–2Mamelodi Sundowns0–20–0

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

Espérance de Tunis won 3–1 on aggregate.

Wydad AC won 4–0 on aggregate.

Mamelodi Sundowns won 2–0 on aggregate.

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

Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Mamelodi Sundowns1–0Al Ahly1–00–0
Wydad AC1–1 (5–4 p)Espérance de Tunis1–00–1

Mamelodi Sundowns won 1–0 on aggregate.

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

The first leg was played on 5 November, and the second leg was played on 12 November 2023.

Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Wydad AC2–3Mamelodi Sundowns2–10–2

Mamelodi Sundowns won 3–2 on aggregate.

RankPlayerTeam.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}QF1QF2SF1SF2F1F2Total
Thapelo MasekoMamelodi Sundowns11
Mahmoud KahrabaAl Ahly11
Sadio KanoutéSimba11
Yahia Attiyat AllahWydad AC1
Hicham BoussefianeWydad AC1
Ayoub El AmloudWydad AC1
Jamal HarkassWydad AC1
Yahya JabraneWydad AC1
Anas SerrhatWydad AC1
Marcelo AllendeMamelodi Sundowns1
Abdelmounaim BoutouilMamelodi Sundowns1
Peter ShalulileMamelodi Sundowns1
Aubrey ModibaMamelodi Sundowns1
Reda SlimAl Ahly1
Mohamed Amine TougaiEspérance de Tunis1
Rodrigo RodriguesEspérance de Tunis1
Oussama BouguerraEspérance de Tunis1
Ghaith OuahabiEspérance de Tunis1
Cheick Oumar Abdallah FofanaTP Mazembe1
Kibu DenisSimba1
  • 2023–24 CAF Champions League

  • 2023–24 CAF Confederation Cup

  • 2023 CAF Women's Champions League

  • CAFonline.com

  • African Football League – AFL

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