Why African Clubs Struggle at the FIFA Club World Cup
Despite the passion and talent within African football, clubs from the continent continue to struggle at the FIFA Club World Cup. This article explores the key reasons behind their challenges, from massive financial disparities and a lack of competitive domestic leagues to an experience gap compared to European and South American powerhouses. While African clubs like Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns, and ES Tunis have shown moments of brilliance, structural issues within CAF football limit their chances against global giants. To compete on the world stage, significant improvements in investment, league quality, and player development are essential.
Muhammad Saad Ismail 
As the Club World Cup wraps up, we have witnessed some outstanding faces, whether it's PSG vs Botafogo or Monterrey vs Inter. We had some stunning results from the group stages. But one thing was clear — European clubs will lead it. Despite the Brazilian sides playing really well, there are three European clubs in the semi-finals, and no African or Asian clubs.
There should be some reasons for that. Let's dig into it:
1. Financial Disparity
The biggest and major difference between European football and other regional football is money. Financial disparity is that obvious. Manchester City had a club squad value of 1.3 billion USD, while Auckland FC had a club squad value of 2 million USD — a difference of 62,400% to a non-European side. Clubs from other regions have squad values that are equal to one player’s value in European clubs. Wydad Casablanca had a market value of 20 million USD, while Manchester City's least valued player from the starting XI was Ilkay Gundogan, valued at 5 million. On the other hand, the most valued player from that starting line-up was Erling Haaland, valued at 180 million.
While financial disparity is one of the reasons, there are many more.
2. Lack of Competitive Domestic Leagues
If we talk about leagues, that is one of the reasons responsible for the results. Leagues in Europe have a very competitive environment. From La Liga to Liga Portugal, each league has a competitive road to the championship. Even the most valuable club, Manchester City, in the tournament, failed to defend its title.
While all the CAF clubs participating in the Club World Cup are dominating their respective leagues. Espérance Sportive de Tunis, from 2016 to 2024, lost only in 2023, while they won six consecutive titles. Similarly, Mamelodi Sundowns also won three consecutive titles from 2018 to 2021. With that kind of league environment, they cannot face European beasts.
3. Experience Gap
This is also one of the reasons for European domination. Many experienced players play in the Brazilian league, but when we look at European clubs, they are flooded with players who have experience in major events like the Euro and the World Cup.
While other teams like Mamelodi Sundowns had Denis Onyango, aged 39 (born 15 May 1985), a goalkeeper. At almost 40, he's not only highly experienced domestically but also internationally, previously captaining Uganda until 2021.
Al Ahly SC had Mohamed El Shenawy, aged 36 (born 18 Dec 1988), a veteran goalkeeper and club captain. He joined Al Ahly in 2016, with nearly 200 league appearances and significant international pedigree. That was a decent footballing career, but if we look at European clubs, we see that Luka Modrić’s football experience spans over two decades, across top leagues in Croatia, England, and Spain. That difference is huge.
Similarly, Europe has many players who have experience at a huge level, like the World Cup and the Euro. They have very competitive face-offs. Other than that, the UEFA Champions League also adds huge value to it. While African clubs do not have that many competitive opportunities.
But many non-European clubs had very impressive and decent results. ES Tunis beat LAFC, Mamelodi Sundowns had a close one with BVB, and Al Ahly drew goalless with Messi’s Inter Miami. Somewhere, they had a bit of good results, but if they need to compete with European giants and want the throne of global football, they must improve.
