Infantino: African Super League could generate $200m

The head of football’s international governing body FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has outlined his plans for an African Super League, which he estimates could generate in excess of $200m in revenue.

Elucidating his plans to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) in Rabat, Morocco, over the weekend, Mr Infantino appears to be eyeing a dramatic overhaul of the African game.

He believes a super league could make African football some of the most competitive in the world, challenging the long-held dominance of the European game.

But, Mr Infantino conceded a lot of work needed to be done: “We have had some serious problems in Africa and it has to change.  It has to change the way of how to do business, it has to take on board the basic elements of good governance”.

Pressing the need for change, he said “There needs to be proper competition infrastructure.  I think it is fair to say that the competitions in Africa are 30-to-40 times less successful than in Europe”.

However, Mr Infantino was not willing to provide details on where the $200m figure came from, or whether the Super League would differ from any of the pre-existing inter-African tournaments, like the African Champions League.

He also touched on the need to fix refereeing, proposing the introduction of an elite panel of referees paid by FIFA.

“You cannot have situations where major football association presidents are the ones deciding who is to referee major matches in a national league.

“This cannot be.  This must be the work of technocrats and experts.

“The elite panel will be performance driven.  You work well, you stay on the panel, you perform poorly and you are out”, he said.

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