Patrice Motsepe to launch CAF Super League as cash-strapped African clubs eagerly await riches

African football supremo Patrice Motsepe will in Tanzania on Wednesday launch a CAF Super League, with promises of a $100 million (R1.66 billion) prize fund for cash-strapped clubs.

Team owners have complained for decades about the costs of competing in the current marquee competition, the CAF Champions League, which offers a $2.5 million (R41.5 million) first prize from a $12.5 million (R207 million)  pot.

"There are some African clubs with literally millions of supporters and the owners have to pay money in order to compete in CAF competitions," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said.

Billionaire South African businessman and Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Motsepe admitted after his club, Mamelodi Sundowns, won the 2016 Champions League that the prize money did not cover all the expenses.

Hamdi Meddeb, chairman of four-time Champions League winners Esperance Tunis, says "if we think of what we spend on the Champions League, compared to what we earn, it would be better not to play in it.

"Africa is a huge continent and sometimes we have to charter flights at a cost of more than $100,000 each.

"When we won the Champions League (in 2018 and 2019), more than half the prize money was spent on bonuses and allowances for the squad and the technical staff. Those are contractual obligations."

Champions League prize money kicks in only at the group stage, meaning 42 of the 58 entrants for the 2023 edition will incur travel, accommodation and other costs but not receive a cent from CAF.

Motsepe has said more profitable times lie ahead, however, and will reveal details of the Super League in the Tanzanian city of Arusha at 1300 local time (1000 GMT) during a gathering of top CAF officials.

He previously said there will