There is method in the seemingly mad decision by Orlando Pirates not to participate in next year’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League: each time they do well in the continental competition, they suffer domestically.
In this year’s competition the Buccaneers were knocked out in the semifinals and are within hailing distance (four points) of Amazulu, who anchor the Premier Soccer League (PSL) table.
Explaining the decision to withdraw, Pirates chief executive Floyd Mbele said: ”There is simply no space to fit the CAF Champions League into our busy schedule. We cannot simply go for the sake of participation.”
Sometimes facts lie, but these do not: in 1995, when Pirates won the African Cup, which preceded the champions league, they finished a disappointing fourth in the league. The following season they did not fare much better, finishing third.
Mamelodi Sundowns, who were runners-up in 2001 to Al Ahly, the five-time African champions whose record is only matched by their bitter Cairo rivals Zamalek, finished fifth that season and 10th in 2002/03.
Manning Rangers were champions league semifinalists in 1998 but finished fourth in the 1998/99 season and fifth the following season. They are now pursuing not-so-lofty dreams in the Mvela Golden league as Fidentia Rangers.
In contrast, Al Ahly, the winners of this year’s competition, went through the whole season unbeaten, winning 23 of the 26 games they played.
They have won back-to-back champions leagues and went on a 78-match unbeaten run in Africa that only ended in the group stages of this year’s tournament, when they lost 1-0 to Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien.
This year they won the Egyptian league, the champions league, the Soccer Cup and the Super Cup.
Enyimba of Nigeria won the champions league in 2003 and 2004 without their continental duties hurting their domestic form. They won the Nigerian league from 2001 to 2003, were runners-up in 2004 and were crowned champions again in 2005.
Hearts of Oak won the champions league in 2000. That year and the next they also won the Ghanaian league — and annexed their country’s FA Cup of 2000.
The Mail & Guardian asked Hearts of Oak how they were able to do well both domestically and on the continent. ”It’s all about the structures you put in place,” said Albert Commei, public relations officer of the club. ”You have to register 32 players and the technical guys have to be aware that they are playing in both competitions.”
He said the club had had problems when their league started at the beginning of the year, as their players were not in shape and found it hard to cope with those teams that had gone past mid season in their local leagues.
The Ghanaian league, like the South African one, now starts in August and ends around May. The Nigerian football association is contemplating changing to the European calendar (used in Ghana and the PSL) from the end of the current season.
Some analysts argue that the reason South African clubs don’t do well has more to do with the travelling involved. Since the inauguration 10 years ago of the new league format for Africa’s top club competition the only teams not from West or North Africa that have reached the semifinals of the competition are TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rangers, Sundowns and Dynamos from Zimbabwe.
The dearth of strong teams in Southern Africa means frequent long-haul flights for PSL teams that reach the group stage of the competition. This differs from CS Sfaxien, for example, having to play against Raja Casablanca or Al Ahly.
But one wonders whether withdrawing from the competition altogether will do any favours for Southern African soccer.
”We are not afraid to say we are protecting our own interests with this decision,” Mbele said.
The local league is rich enough for Pirates, Chiefs or Sundowns to turn their noses up at the $1-million on offer to the CAF Champions League winners. But Pirates’ decision means that one of the few clubs in the region that could realistically challenge the hegemony has left the field to the mercy of the West and North Africans.
It also removes a chance for local players to pit their skills against the best the continent has to offer. And, with South Africa qualifying automatically for the 2010 World Cup as hosts, the PSL’s Bafana Bafana hopefuls need all the competitive international experience they can get.