Patrice Motsepe clarifies how Mamelodi Sundowns was chosen for the African Football League

One of those thorny issues is that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is not clear about giving Mamelodi Sundowns permission to honour the tournament next week.

Speaking to African and international media just ahead of last night’s 2023 African Cup of Nations draw in Abidjan, in Ivory Coast, Motsepe clarified why only Sundowns in South Africa play in the inaugural AFL.

He says with the revised plan around this tournament, they have been forced to use a ranking system.

"You asked about Mamelodi Sundowns, my job is to every football club and every single nation on the African continent and specifically in relation to South Africa, the test was ranking. The test was taking the CAF and FIFA ratings and ranking. Where do you qualify? At what level are you based on your sucesses, your victories and how many times you've been in the Champions League and have won the Champions League," Motsepe said.

SABC Sport exclusively reported on Thursday that just a week after the PSL clubs voted against Sundowns’ participation in the AFL citing fixture congestion as one of the reasons, on Friday the Board of Governors (BOG) will reconvene and there could be positive news for the Brazilians. 

Motsepe says they have also picked up that communication between their member associations (SAFA) and national leagues (PSL) has not been up to standard around this tournament.

"Let me say this as president of CAF, let me put it more positively, in terms of the communication between the African Football League which in fact is a CAF competition and as president of CAF, I have to take responsibility because there is a limitation that you may not communicate with the football clubs in any country directly. We are confined through communicating with the member association or the federation," Motsepe explained.

"So, I think we've taken note of those things and I'm satisfied that it's a learning process because you've got the rules that say 'You can't talk to the professional league, you may not. You must talk to the federations.’ 

What complicates this issue in some countries is you find that the leadership of the federation and the professional leagues, the relationships are not what it should be. My job is to keep building on those tires and making sure that the leadership of the professional league and the leadership of the federation work together."