Cape Town — CAF has upped the ante for the men’s team in the Super Cup tournament but not for women participating in the CAF Women’s Champions League.
The CAF Super Cup is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup.
According to CAF, newly crowned Super Cup champions USM Alger walks away with U.S.$500,000 (R7.5 million) after their 1-0 win over Al Ahly in Saudi Arabia on Friday, September 15. This is an increase of U.S.$300,000 (R4.5 million) from previous years. The runners-up took away U.S.$250,000 (R3.8 million), double than was awarded in 2022.
As the news of the prize money increase broke, the eight teams for the Women’s Champions League were also confirmed.
The teams are AS FAR (Morocco) who are defending champs, Athlético Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Sporting Club Casablanca (Morocco), AS Mandé (Mali), Ampem Darkoa (Ghana), JKT Queens (Tanzania), Huracanes FC (Equatorial Guinea) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa). The Women’s Champions League will kick off between November 5-19, 2023 and will be hosted by Cote d’Ivoire.
The call for equal pay for women soccer players around the world spread after at the Women’s World Cup held in New Zealand and Australia from July to August 2023.
The plight of African women soccer players was highlighted by the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champs when South Africa’s Banyana Banyana called for parity in their salaries with their Bafana Bafana counterparts, who have not brought home any significant silverware wins since their title win at the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. This Banyana Banyana call was echoed by President Cyril Ramaphosa who said the players should be paid the same.
On the eve of their departure for the Women’s World Cup 2023, CAF President and South African Patrice Motsepe had stepped in to settle a dispute the team had with the South African Football Association over omissions in their contracts that had to include appearance fees promised by FIFA, to all team players.
Banyana Banyana bowed out of the Women’s World Cup with their heads held high as it was the first the team had reached the knockout stage in the tournament. The side lost 2-0 to Netherlands in Sydney. The African champs, together with Nigeria’s Super Falcons kept the African dream alive but the Super Falcons, after a strong start in the tournament, lost on penalties 4-2 to England.
Although CAF has increased salaries for women’s tournaments, they still pale in comparison to what the men are paid. It is reported in Modern Ghana, that the CAF Women’s Champions League winners in November 2023 will earn U.S.$400,000, while the men’s CAF Champions League will take home U.S.$4 million.
