Sundowns poised for huge CAF Champions League benefit

Mamelodi Sundowns are set to reap further benefits from their persistent rise in continental football which delivered their second CAF Champions League title last month.

Not only do Sundowns now rule club football in Africa, they also now sit top of the CAF 5-year ranking for the first time in history ahead of Al Ahly.

The Brazilians have 73 points while the Egyptian heavyweights have dropped to 66 points.

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CAF uses this ranking system based on results from the preceding five years to determine which member association enters two clubs in its competitions, along with club seeding matters ahead of draws in both the Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.

Points are weighed according to the year of performance and then multiplied by a coefficient according to the year, with the most recent year carrying more value.

The biggest benefit for Sundowns from all of this is that they are now poised to get a bye straight into the group stages of the 2026/27 CAF Champions League.

This subject is in discussion but yet to be approved by the authorities.

Getting that kind of bye will not be new in the CAF Champions League with Esperance thrown straight into the group stages for the 2018/19 edition.

The plan to hand Sundowns a qualification rounds bye is also based on that they will play in the CAF Super Cup and International Cup.

In the one-off CAF Super Cup match, they will play the CAF Confederation Cup winners, USM Alger, on October 31.

There will be a winners’ cheque of USD500 000 (approx. R8,2 million), while the runners-up get USD250 000 (approx. R4,1 million).

For the Intercontinental Cup, Sundowns will play the winner of the Al Ahli Saudi FC/Auckland FC match for the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup.

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Should they win that contest then they will play FIFA Challenger Cup against the winners of the 2026 Copa Libertadores and 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup (Deportivo Toluca FC) match.

If they proceed again then they will contest the Intercontinental Cup final against UEFA Champions League holders, Paris Saint-Germain.

Miguel Cardoso still has the Betway Premiership, MTN8, Carling KnockOut Cup, and the Nedbank Cup to play locally.