Does CAF participation hamper our domestic teams title hopes?

In this years CAF competition’s South Africa is blessed to have three teams participating in the group stages. Mamelodi Sundowns are in the group stages of the CAF Champions league while Supersport and Platinum Stars are in the group stages of the CAF Confederations league, it has been a while since we have had so many teams in Africa’s club competitions.

However the elephant in the room seems to be growing bigger and bigger the more our local teams participate. This season Sundowns barely had a breather and one could say that this hampered their title defence. Pitso Mosimane bluntly said that “if I ran a comrades marathon and won it, then without resting I go on to run the Two Oceans and you beat me in the Two Oceans and you brag about beating me, it can’t be fair”.

What he simply meant is that teams that participate domestically and then go on to fight for honours in Africa are at a disadvantage due to the work load. Orlando Pirates also suffered the same fate, Supersport were challenging for league honours until the work load took its toll on them, Platinum Stars finished 3rd last season and with one game left they are sitting on the 10th spot and might not even make the top 8. Could this be attributed to a huge work load?

While the rest of Africa uses a season format that begins in February and finishes some were between November and December, and fits in well with how CAF Competitions are structured we are using a European format that puts our teams at an disadvantage both domestically and continentally.

By Jimmy Modise