Despite the initial plans to have twenty-four teams participating in the CAF Super League, it has been announced that the tournament will kick off in August 2023, with only eight teams.
Dstv Premiership champions, Mamelodi Sundowns will be taking part in the inaugural competition, reported MTNFC.
Six months before the planned launch there remains little official information, but MTNFC can reveal that the South African champions have agreed to participate in the inaugural edition.
They will be the only South African side in the field, made up of teams from eight different countries. The others are Petro Atletico from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo’s TP Mazembe, Al Ahly from Egypt, Horoya from Guinea, Wydad Casablanca from Morocco, Tanzania’s Simba and Esperance of Tunisia.
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Hands off our referees! Says SAFA head of referees, Abdul Ibrahim.
Referees have been under the spotlight lately in the Dstv Premiership, with a lot of their decisions highly questionable.
That has led to them feeling the full wrath of coaches who believe poor refereeing decisions will cost them their jobs.
SAFA head of referees has decided enough is enough, and stood up for the men in the middle.
“This is easy. If things don’t go your way, there is always somebody that has to be blamed,” Ebrahim told iDiski Times.
“So they always run to match officials and it is a norm in our game unfortunately. I’m not defending match officials, yes they do make mistakes, but we do deal with that. But sometimes they [coaches] need to be fair and look at the statistics.
“Referees make 20-30 decisions in the game, they make one that doesn’t go for your team, and you blame the referee that you lost the game.
“But they have five opportunities to score and they don’t score, do they say the players are poor? But they say referees are poor. So it really doesn’t make sense to me.”
On the last sixteen draw.
Orlando Pirates and Chippa United have the easiest passage to the quarterfinals.
Kaizer Chiefs will have to sweat a bit against Castric Stars to avoid the misfortune that once befell them against TS Galaxy, while Amazulu must be prepared to be Dondolized if they don’t step up.
Mamelodi Sundowns will have to be wary of a resurgent Marumo Gallants, whom they beat in the final last season.
Full draw:
Orlando Pirates vs Venda Football Academy
Golden Arrows vs Royal AM
Marumo Gallants vs Mamelodi Sundowns
Chippa United vs Mpeni Home Defenders
Dondol Stars vs AmaZulu
Kaizer Chiefs vs Casric Stars
Sekhukhune United vs Cape Town Spurs
TS Galaxy vs Stellenbosch FC
