SOUTH AFRICA’s Mamelodi Sundowns has won the inaugural edition of the African Football League decided on Sunday.
The Brazilians (as Sundowns are affectionately called) defeated Wydad Casablanca of Morocco 2-0 in the second leg of the final at Loftus Versfeld.
It gave them a 3-2 aggregate win in the first edition of Africa’s effort at launching a super league, which was reduced from a planned 24-club league to a six-week, eight-team knockout tournament.
Trailing 2-1 from last weekend’s first leg in Casablanca, Sundowns evened the aggregate score in stoppage time at the end of the first half through Peter Shalulile.
They added a second goal seven minutes into the second half when Aubrey Modhiba stole away possession before chipping the ball over the Wydad goalkeeper.
A super league for Africa was originally suggested by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who condemned similar efforts in Europe while saying it could transform the game in Africa.
He attended the match in Pretoria on Sunday, along with a capacity crowd that had free entry.
Mamelodi Sundowns smiled to the bank with four million dollars as winners while Waydad AthIetic Club of Casablanca of Morocco went home with three million dollars.
Semifinalists, Al Ahly of Egypt and Esperance of Tunisia got 1.7 million, Simba SC of Tanzania, Enyimba of Nigeria, TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Petro de Luanda of Angola were given one million dollars each for participating in the competition.
Eighteen-Eleven Media