In just 4+ years under the leadership of Patrice Motsepe, prize money for AFCON has witnessed three increments, first from 4.5 million US dollars in 2019 to 5 million US dollars in 2021, and then by 40% in 2024 with winner bagging 7 million US dollars and runner-up getting 4 million US dollars, and to a whopping 10 million US dollars in 2025.
Patrice Motsepe also launched the African Football League , a competition for the highest-ranked and most successful football clubs on the African continent, with a whopping sum of 4 million US dollars for the winner, 3 million US dollars for the runner-up, 1.7 million US dollars for each semifinalist and one million US dollars for each quarterfinalist. Note that half of the revenue generated by this competition goes to participating clubs while the rest is shared among the continent’s 54 member associations as contribution to football development.
Under Motsepe, CAF, for the first time ever, provides assistance to clubs in the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup with each club given 50,000 US dollars. Before Motsepe, clubs needed to reach the group stage before benefiting from the overall prize money.
Also, winners of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League now take USD 4,000,000 – compared to the USD 2,500,000 they received in 2022, while winners of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup now take USD 2,000,000 – compared to the USD 1,200,000 they received in 2022.
The Motsepe administration has also increased the prize money of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) by 75%, with the winner now set to get 3.5 million US dollars.
The growth of the AFCON has also been unprecedented under Motsepe. Each edition gets better than the previous. The AFCON in Ivory Coast amassed about 2 billion views, and AFCON 2025 in Morocco set the bar very high with 6 billion views. The excitement and entertainment have been on a whole new level.
With Motsepe, African football is not stalling behind.
Sportyy Ade
