Champions League boost for SA teams

SOUTH Africa and Egypt will have four teams in the African Champions League from next year after the two countries benefited massively from the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) recent reforms.

SA could only enter two teams in the past – the Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions and the runners-up – but South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan said things were about to change.

‘‘If you look at what is happening in the Premier League in England‚ the first thing those clubs try to do is win the league title,” he said yesterday.

“If they can’t do it‚ the next motivation is to try to get into the top four to have a guarantee of going into the Uefa Champions League.”

The continent’s football bosses and players met in Rabat‚ Morocco‚ a few days ago and endorsed several changes to the way the game is run on the continent‚ including switching the calendar to August-May.

South African football is reaping the fruits of Mamelodi Sundowns’ triumphant march to the Champions League title last year.

Orlando Pirates’ run to the final of the 2013 Champions League and their run to the final of the 2015 Caf Confederations Cup also helped sway the continental football bosses.

As if that were not enough‚ Sundowns are in the quarterfinals of this year’s Champions League, while SuperSport United are flying the SA flag in the Caf Confederations Cup.

All of these performances cast South Africa in a positive light and four PSL clubs will get a chance to participate in the lucrative continental club competition.

‘‘Some of our teams [in South Africa] can compete with the best clubs anywhere in the world, but it is not so for every country in the world,” Jordaan said.

Jordaan‚ who is also Caf executive member‚ hinted that the Champions League’s prize money could be increased considerably after the changes.