Africa's Club of the Century Previously published African rankings have been based on the number of the titles won and placings in competitions, or comprehensive tables of competitions; or by using subjective criteria and artificial values. The IFFHS has decided to determine the African club of the century (1901-2000) and with it the continental ranking of the century by using the individual match results of the later rounds of the continental club competitions - analogous to Europe and South America. The national competitions are merely a prerequisite to qualification for the continental club competitions. Regional-continental and intercontinental club competitions were not taken into consideration. One difference with Europe and South America lies in the fact that Africa was largely made up of colonies in the 1st half of the 20th century (and longer) and the development of sports in Africa only began to take off after states had attained their independence. As a result there were no international club competitions before 1964 involving the various sovereign African states. The development of African football, which had a good deal of catching up to do from the 1970s onwards, enjoyed a terrific increase in the final decades of the 20th century. This increase in standards was reflected by the introduction of additional continental club competitions. The African Champions Cup, which was played annually (except 1965) from 1964, became the African Champions League in 1997. The African Cup Winners Cup was played annually from 1975 and the CAF Cup was played annually from 1992 onwards. All CAF club competitions were only taken into consideration up to 2000 and were taken to generate a corresponding number of points. Finally the African Super Cup has been played annually since 1992. The score of the African Super Cup was between the two top competitions. Decisions by penalty shoot-outs were not taken into consideration, in such cases each team received the half of points. A second difference with Europe and South America is the economic circumstances in Africa and the enormous distances to the away matches from the qualifying rounds of a CAF club competition onwards, consequently the draw was made on geographic lines unlike Europe or South America. Therefore, only the results from the quarter-finals onwards in all competitions were taken into consideration. In the African Champions League (1997-2000) all results of the group phase directly before the finals were taken into consideration. For it there gave none semi-finals more. In 1970 the African club ranking was led of the TP Mazembe Lubumbashi from Zaire (today: DR Congo) - at the time still using the name TP Englebert - ahead of Asante Kotoko SC Kumasi (Ghana), Al-Ismailia (Egypt) and AS Réal Bamako (Mali). The years of the 1970s were dominated by the clubs from South West Africa and Zaire. At the end of 1980, 11 of the 12 best-placed clubs of the continental club ranking were from these two regions. Hafia FC Conakry (Guinea) led ahead of Asante Kotoko SC Kumasi, TP Mazembe Lubumbashi, Canon Sportif de Yaoundé (Cameroon) and Rangers International FC Enugo (Nigeria). In the 1980s Hafia FC Conakry and TP Mazembe Lubumbashi were not able to collect additional points for the continental club ranking, while Al-Ahly Cairo (Egypt) achieved a record increase in points. The "Top 10" in 1990 were: Asante Kotoko SC Kumasi ahead of Canon Sportif de Yaoundé, Hafia FC Conakry, Al-Ahly Cairo, TP Mazembe Lubumbashi, AS Vita Club Kinshasa (DR Congo), Rangers International FC Enugo, Zamalek SC Cairo (Egypt), Nkana FC Kitwe (Zambia) and Hearts of Oak SC Accra (Ghana). In the years following 1990 achieved still two clubs from the Ivory Coast (ASEC Mimosas Abidjan, Africa Sports Abidjan) as well as Espérance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia) the "Top 10" of the century. Asante Kotoko SC Kumasi, with a clear lead, became Africa's Club of the Century ahead of the two Egyptian clubs Al-Ahly Cairo and Zamalek SC Cairo as as well as Canon Sportif de Yaoundé from Cameroon. Among the "Top 20" are nine clubs from North Africa, eight clubs from South West Africa and three clubs from Central Africa, while the southern region of the African continent is represented by its best club (Orlando Pirates Marshalltown/South Africa) but only in 27th place. The clubs from South Africa were expelled from the CAF competitions for a long period because of the country’s apartheid policy. In the 1st decade of the 21st century the dominant club are Al-Ahly Cairo of Egypt and the top clubs from Tunisia, but that was a decade to late for Africa's Club of the Century.
Champions Cup & Champions League: Cup Winners Cup: CAF Cup: Super Cup:
Africa's Club of the Century
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