Mamelodi Sundowns will next week take their place as one of the four African teams competing in the new-look Club World Cup, hoping along with Al Ahly of Egypt, Esperance from Tunisia and Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca to make a strong impression and bolster the image of football on the continent.
Africa’s four places in the new look 32-team tournament were all determined by performances in the African Champions League over the preceding four years, as is the case for all the teams from the other confederations, also decied by results in the top club competition on each continent.
Africa’s places were reserved for the winners of the Champions League between 2021 and 2024 but the dominance of Al Ahly’s over those editions meant that the door was opened for clubs without Champions League success to also qualify for the Club World Cup.
Al Ahly won the Champions League in 2021, 2023 and 2024 while Wydad Casablanca won in 2022.
To fill the other two places, Fifa devised a points system by ranking performances in the Champions League over the four-year period. That is how Esperance and Sundowns qualified
Esperance were third in this ranking, behind Al Ahly (140) and Wydad (108) with 100 points and Sundowns fourth on 98 points.
In the period 2021-24, Sundowns were semifinalists twice and quarterfinalists on the other two occasions while Esperance were runners-up last year, twice semifinalists and once knocked out in the quarterfinals.
Egypt newcomers Pyramids, who were crowned Champions League winners on Sunday, have booked their place in the 2029 Club World Cup.