The 2023 African Football League was the first edition of Africa's newest club football tournament, the African Football League, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 20 October – 12 November 2023 |
| Teams | 8 (from 8 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Mamelodi Sundowns (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Wydad AC |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 14 |
| Goals scored | 24 (1.71 per match) |
| Attendance | 547,000 (39,071 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Thapelo Maseko Mahmoud Kahraba Sadio Kanouté(2 goals each) |
| Best player(s) | Thapelo Maseko |
| Best goalkeeper | Ronwen Williams |
2024–25 → | |
This season was meant to be a precursor tournament to the full fledged version, which will start in the 2024–25 season, after being delayed a year.
The competition, initially announced in 2022 as the Africa Super League, was to involve 24 teams divided into three geographical regions and have a promotion-relegation system. The competition was delayed from August to October 2023, renamed to the African Football League, and revised into an eight-team knockout format for its inaugural season. This season is meant to be a precursor, as the originally announced format will be introduced starting in 2024–25.
The schedule was as follows.[1]
| Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter-finals | 2 September 2023 | 20–22 October 2023 | 24–25 October 2023 |
| Semi-finals | 29 October 2023 | 1 November 2023 | |
| Final | 5 November 2023 | 12 November 2023 |
Each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was not played and the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out.
The African Football League involved 8 teams chosen by the CAF to enter the tournament.
| Pot 2 | Pot 1 |
|---|---|
Wydad AC Mamelodi Sundowns Espérance de Tunis |
The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage (quarter-finals, semi-finals and final), which was held on 2 September 2023, 16:00 GMT (19:00 local time, UTC+3), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[1]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||||||
 Enyimba
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Wydad AC
| 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| Wydad AC (p)
| 1 | 0 | 1 (5) | ||||||||||||||
| Espérance de Tunis
| 0 | 1 | 1 (4) | ||||||||||||||
 TP Mazembe
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Espérance de Tunis
| 0 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Wydad AC
| 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Mamelodi Sundowns
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
 Petro de Luanda
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Mamelodi Sundowns
| 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Mamelodi Sundowns
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Al Ahly
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
 Simba
| 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Al Ahly (a)
| 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
The first legs were played on 20, 21 and 22 October, and the second legs were played on 24 and 26 October 2023.[1]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simba
|
3–3 (a) | Al Ahly
|
2–2 | 1–1 |
| TP Mazembe
|
1–3 | Espérance de Tunis
|
1–0 | 0–3 |
| Enyimba
|
0–4 | Wydad AC
|
0–1 | 0–3 |
| Petro de Luanda
|
0–2 | Mamelodi Sundowns
|
0–2 | 0–0 |
| Simba | 2–2 | Al Ahly |
|---|---|---|
 59' |
Report |
63' |
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Dahane Beida (Mauritania)
| Al Ahly | 1–1 | Simba |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo (DR Congo)
3–3 on aggregate. Al Ahly won on away goals.
| TP Mazembe | 1–0 | Espérance de Tunis |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Mahmood Ismail (Sudan)
| Espérance de Tunis | 3–0 | TP Mazembe |
|---|---|---|
76' 86' |
Report |
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Abongile Tom (South Africa)
Espérance de Tunis won 3–1 on aggregate.
| Enyimba | 0–1 | Wydad AC |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Alhadi Allaou Mahamat (Chad)
| Wydad AC | 3–0 | Enyimba |
|---|---|---|
38' 43' |
Report |
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Pierre Atcho (Gabon)
Wydad AC won 4–0 on aggregate.
| Petro de Luanda | 0–2 | Mamelodi Sundowns |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
80' |
Attendance: 42,000
Referee: Ibrahim Mutaz (Libya)
| Mamelodi Sundowns | 0–0 | Petro de Luanda |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
Mamelodi Sundowns won 2–0 on aggregate.
The first legs were played on 29 October, and the second legs were played on 1 November 2023.[1]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mamelodi Sundowns
|
1–0 | Al Ahly
|
1–0 | 0–0 |
| Wydad AC
|
1–1 (5–4 p) | Espérance de Tunis
|
1–0 | 0–1 |
| Mamelodi Sundowns | 1–0 | Al Ahly |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Djindo Louis Houngnandande (Benin)
| Al Ahly | 0–0 | Mamelodi Sundowns |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Attendance: 50,000
Mamelodi Sundowns won 1–0 on aggregate.
| Wydad AC | 1–0 | Espérance de Tunis |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Attendance: 45,000
| Espérance de Tunis | 1–0 | Wydad AC |
|---|---|---|
|
Report | |
| Penalties | ||
  |
4–5 |
El Amloud Aboulfath Ounajem Sambou |
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya)
1–1 on aggregate. Wydad AC won 5–4 on penalties.
The first leg was played on 5 November, and the second leg was played on 12 November 2023.[1]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wydad AC
|
2–3 | Mamelodi Sundowns
|
2–1 | 0–2 |
| Wydad AC | 2–1 | Mamelodi Sundowns |
|---|---|---|
|
78' |
Report |
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Mahmood Ismail (Sudan)
| Mamelodi Sundowns | 2–0 | Wydad AC |
|---|---|---|
53' |
Report |
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo (DR Congo)
Mamelodi Sundowns won 3–2 on aggregate.
| Rank | Player | Team | QF1 | QF2 | SF1 | SF2 | F1 | F2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thapelo Maseko
|
Mamelodi Sundowns
|
1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Mahmoud Kahraba
|
Al Ahly
|
1 | 1 | ||||||
| Sadio Kanouté
|
Simba
|
1 | 1 | ||||||
| 4 | Yahia Attiyat Allah
|
Wydad AC
|
1 | 1 | |||||
| Hicham Boussefiane
|
Wydad AC
|
1 | |||||||
| Ayoub El Amloud
|
Wydad AC
|
1 | |||||||
| Jamal Harkass
|
Wydad AC
|
1 | |||||||
| Yahya Jabrane
|
Wydad AC
|
1 | |||||||
| Anas Serrhat
|
Wydad AC
|
1 | |||||||
 Marcelo Allende
|
Mamelodi Sundowns
|
1 | |||||||
| Abdelmounaim Boutouil
|
Mamelodi Sundowns
|
1 | |||||||
 Peter Shalulile
|
Mamelodi Sundowns
|
1 | |||||||
| Aubrey Modiba
|
Mamelodi Sundowns
|
1 | |||||||
| Reda Slim
|
Al Ahly
|
1 | |||||||
 Mohamed Amine Tougai
|
Espérance de Tunis
|
1 | |||||||
 Rodrigo Rodrigues
|
Espérance de Tunis
|
1 | |||||||
| Oussama Bouguerra
|
Espérance de Tunis
|
1 | |||||||
| Ghaith Ouahabi
|
Espérance de Tunis
|
1 | |||||||
| Cheick Oumar Abdallah Fofana
|
TP Mazembe
|
1 | |||||||
| Kibu Denis
|
Simba
|
1 | |||||||
