The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has been asked to increase the number of teams competing in the Total Energies Champions League and Total Energies Confederation Cup tournaments by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA).
The request, submitted on Thursday and confirmed by association president Hany Abo Rida, will see Africa’s top 12 leagues which already contribute two teams get a third slot in both the Champions League and Confederation Cup.
Lower leagues will then get a second slot each for the two competitions.
Rida’s argument is that Africa’s remarkable improvement at the ongoing FIFA World Cup is as a result of increased competition on the continent and could be improved if more teams are exposed to high level games.
CAF has not responded to the request yet.
As it stands the Egyptian Premier League, Morocco’s Botola Pro, South Africa’s Betway Premiership, Algeria’s Ligue Professionnelle 1 and Tunisia’s Ligue Professionnelle 1 form part of the top 12 leagues which contribute four teams to CAF’s two club competitions.
Tanzania’s NBC Premier League, DRC’s Linafoot Ligue 1, Mali’s Ligue 1, Angola’s Girabola, Ivory Coast’s Ligue 1 Lonaci, Zambia’s Super League and the Nigeria Premier Football League complete the CAF list.
The rest of Africa contributes one team in each competition based on CAF’s ranking system.
