Their record at the international level
speaks volumes with seven AFCON
wins and four appearances at the
FIFA World Cup and Confederations
Cups combined – which is also as
impressive as Egypt's club level
successes are. Not only have the likes
of Al Ahly SC and Zamalek grown into
massive powerhouses economically with huge fan bases and lucrative
sponsors - the two Cairo rivals have
also swooped up almost half of the
last 28 CAF Champions' Leagues - a
feat unmatched in any other
continental tournament worldwide.
By that definition, some surveyors such as the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History
& Statistics) would ranks the wealth of Egypt's leagues among the top thirty in the world - but
then they also gifted Sudan the same merit in 2012 - based on three of their clubs surpassing the
Champions' League group stages. Their sole criteria of analyzing a leagues pedigree is
debatable; even though the Sudan Premier League has improved by leaps and bounds of late,
one surely can't consider a country with just one professional division and relatively small
attendances to be the richest of the continent.
A final case study from the pro keeping players methodology, let's look at the Democratic
league of the Republic of Congo - or more specifically the "Tout Puissant" Mazembe.
When your club name
translates from French as the
"all powerful", you'd expect to
be some kind of economic
fortress, and so the Congolese
are to some extent, led by self
confessed football-mad Moise
Katumbi.
TP Mazembe has challenged
the North African dominance of
the CAF Champions' League –
by lifting the trophy themselves
consecutively in 2009 and
2010, coupled with two semifinals appearances since.
Owner of Congo’s TP Mazembe; Moise Katumbi
But it is the money spent by Katumbi to get The Ravens to this stage that is most staggering. The
businessman/politician reportedly invested $10 million into players in 2010 alone, figures unheard
of previously in DR Congo football.
However, a club - and even more so a league - cannot be solidified by one man alone, even if he
has done wonders for the side he's followed since boyhood.