Motsepe: Caf Champions League final going back to two legs
Image: Alaister Russell
Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe has announced that the Caf Champions League final will be played over two legs again.
Motsepe said the decision was taken at an executive committee that Caf would launch a Super League with R1.6bn prize money this year, to kick off next year.
Caf switched to a single-venue final at a neutral venue in the 2019-20 season. However, the move created a controversial situation in the 2021-22 competition where Wydad Athletic beat Al Ahly 2-0 at their home Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca. Only Morocco was left bidding for the final after Senegal withdrew.
Stade Mohamed V had also been the previous season’s host of the final when Al Ahly beat Kaizer Chiefs 3-0.
“The Caf president announced that going forward the Caf Champions League final will now be played over two legs,” Caf said.
The vast distances to be travelled also made a neutral venue final challenging in an African context.
Caf said given both clubs competing are from Morocco, the 2022 Super Cup final will be played in that country.
“With the two clubs who are current title holders of the Champions League (Wydad AC) and Confederation Cup (RS Berkane) both coming from the same country, Morocco, the executive committee approved the recommendation by the Caf interclub committee to play the Super Cup 2022 final in Morocco.”
On the 2022 African Nations Championship (Chan) in Algeria, Caf said: “The executive committee noted the report of the inspection delegation team led by vice-president Seidou Mbombo Njoya and executive member Moses Magogo on the state of readiness of Algeria.
“The executive committee confirmed that the opening match of Chan is January 13 until February 4 2023.”
Caf said the 2022 Women’s Champions League host nation will be Morocco.
“Caf had twice opened the bidding process of the Women’s Champions League 2022, and only Royal Morocco Football Federation submitted a bid. The executive committee therefore resolved to award the competition to Morocco as the only bidder.”
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