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The majority of the exposure that worldwide audiences get to African football comes in the form of African players plying their trades in the big European leagues and the performances of the continent’s national teams in the World Cup.
But there is also a rich and passionate history of club football in Africa. At the turn of the 20th century, South Africa, Algeria and Egypt had a few clubs and the continent’s Champions League equivalent began in 1964, just 11 years after the first European Cup was staged.
Here are 5 of the best football clubs in Africa.
#1 Al Ahly
Al Ahly are the most successful team in the history of African football. In Egypt, they have won a record 39 league titles and 36 Egyptian Cups, while at the continental level their haul of eight African Champions League trophies is three more than any other club.
Renowned for their boisterous supporters, the Cairo-based club was formed in 1907 and won the first nine Egyptian league titles following the foundation of the competition in 1948. Players such as all-time Egyptian national team top scorer Hossam Hassan, highly talented forward Mahmoud El-Khatib and the wonderfully slick playmaker Mohamed Aboutrika are among those to have made their name at the Red Devils.
But they are far from a historical relic. Al Ahly have won 10 of the last 11 Egyptian league titles and accumulated their seventh and eighth triumphs in the African Champions League in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
#2 Zamalek
Al Ahly’s local rivals Zamalek are both the second most successful side in Egypt and the second most successful side on the continent, with five African Champions League triumphs to their credit. They were the runners-up to Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2016 running of the latter competition.
Founded in 1911, the White Knights have been the only consistent challengers to Al Ahly’s dominance of domestic competition, winning the league title on 12 occasions and finishing as runners-up a further 32 times.
For European audiences, their most recognisable former player is probably the ex-Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur striker Mido, who came up through the club’s youth academy and later coached them.
#3 TP Mazembe
TP Mazembe won two African Champions League trophies and twice finished as runners-up in the late 1960s during the first golden age of the Congolese club.
The seventies, eighties and nineties were fairly lean years for the Ravens, but the arrival of Moise Katumbi as president in 1997 changed their fortunes and eventually turned them into one of the biggest and most successful clubs in Africa.
Under Katumbi’s leadership, TP Mazembe have won nine of the last 12 domestic league titles and thrice triumphed in the African Champions League. Money has been invested to pay good wages and bring in players from Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe in order to form a side capable of dominating domestically whilst competing on the continental stage.
In 2010, they became the first African side to reach the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, knocking out Pachuca of Mexico and Internacional of Brazil before falling 3-0 to European champions Inter Milan in the final.
#4 Raja Casablanca
North African teams have dominated the African Champions League since the early eighties. Big clubs from the region can count on large and passionate supporter bases and the sort of structural stability that is rarely seen in some of the continent’s other quarters.
Raja Casablanca are not the most successful team in the competitive domestic league in Morocco (that honour goes to local rivals Wydad Casablanca), but on a continental stage, they have been the most impressive of the country’s sides. The Green Eagles have three African Champions League triumphs to their credit from 1989, 1997 and 1999, while they also finished as runners-up in 2002.
Even more impressively, they became only the second African team to reach the final of the Club World Cup when Morocco hosted the tournament in 2013, disposing of Monterrey of Mexico and Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro before going down to a credible 0-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the final.
The team has always had a reputation for playing stylish football, making them one of the most attractive teams to watch on the continent.
#5 Esperance de Tunis
Esperance de Tunis are by some distance the most successful club in the history of Tunisian domestic game, with 27 league titles to their name. Their haul of two African Champions League triumphs put them behind historical teams such as Hafia FC and Canon Yaounde, but they have undoubtedly been one of the competition’s most consistent sides in recent times.
The Blood and Gold (so named for their distinctive red and gold shirts) won the competition in 1994 and 2011 and were losing finalists in 1999, 2000, 2010 and 2012. With a mix of local talents (including Tunisian internationals such as smooth midfielder Ferjani Sassi) and players signed from elsewhere on the continent, they are one of the strongest and most stable sides in Africa.
