The African Football League involving eight teams, kicked off in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania with home side Simba drawing 2-2 with Africa's most successful team Al Ahly of Egypt on Friday.
The two teams were playing a quarter-final first leg and will meet again in Cairo on Tuesday in the return fixture.
The African Football League competition ''will change the landscape of African and world football,'' FIFA president Gianni Infantino said at the opening of the tournament.
The eight-team competition bares little resemblance to the initial concept which he had suggested to the Confederation of African Football’s member countries at their 2020 congress.
Four million dollars
Infantino, who attended Friday’s match in the Tanzanian capital at the head of a heavyweight FIFA delegation, said then that a 24-team tournament would have $200 million in prize money and keep top talent in Africa with potential to turn the continent into a leader in the world game.
But almost four years after first raising the idea, the league began as a knockout competition, which will be completed in 17 days and with each team guaranteed $1 million for taking part with $4 million going to the winner, the same as the prize money for the African Champions League.
Africa persisted with the concept of a continental super league after similar plans in Europe were doomed when clubs pulled out in the wake of widespread opposition.
A presursor
Only a single sponsor has been signed for the African Football League, with a deal with Visit Saudi, the tourism authority of Saudi Arabia, announced last week.
When asked where the money for the new competition came from, CAF president Patrice Motsepe told reporters at a press conference ahead of the match: “We pray very hard. It comes from heaven.”
CAF had previously said the eight-team format is a precursor to a bigger competition next year.
Weekend games
The other six clubs in this year’s event will play their first matches this weekend and the aggregate winners advance to the semi-finals.
On Saturday, October 21, 16-time Angolan champions Atlético Petróleos de Luanda will host South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, the winners of the last six South African domestic league titles in a row, at Luanda’s Estadio 11 de Novembro.
On Sunday, Democratic Republic of Congo champions TP Mazembe will host Tunisian giants Esperance Tunisienne, also at Dar es Salaam’s Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, at 18:00 GMT.
In the last of the tournament’s mouthwatering opening weekend games, Nigerian club Enyimba FC will host legendary Moroccan champions Wydad Athletic Club at Uyo’s Goodwill Akpabo Stadium on Sunday in a match also kicking off on Sunday, October 22, at 18:00 GMT.
