African Football has long since come of age. Top African talent graces the major leagues in Europe regularly now. Qualification for Africa’s World Cup is underway and South Africa has cause to be grateful for hosting the tournament. The Bafana Bafana has already crashed out of the next African Cup of Nations in humiliating fashion at the preliminary round stage. The World Cup winning Brasilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira resigned mid-task and recommended Joel Natalino Santana take his place. Overpaid and over there Santana won few friends with the size of his contract - the same as Parreira’s, but without the experience and achievement at international level. However, he may well have suffered from being undermined from within by Pitso Mosimane and Khabo Zondo as well, but few expected so poor a showing that the World Cup hosts won’t even contest the final round of qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations in Angola in 2010. It will probably take some time for South African football to recover from this.

Nevertheless, African football has gained some high profile admirers - some of whom may be unexpected at first glance. South Africa has a champion in the Chief Executive Officer of Internazionale di Milano Ernesto Paolillo who wants to see his club get involved in Africa. He favours South Africa as the target of their altruism. Paolillo wants to see Inter develop ties in Africa. “We are very interested to do that you know, “ said Paolillo, “and one of the possible things we can do in the first chance is to make a tour in South Africa or some other country playing football over there and play some games. We have some players coming from Africa that are very good.” Paolillo seemed interested in ensuring that Inter are part of Africa’s World Cup. When asked whether Inter would tour elsewhere in Africa he seemed set on the next hosts of the World Cup. “Why not in South Africa?” he said. “This is the most possible event that can happen.”

Meanwhile, the newly appointed President of Spanish giants Valencia, Vicente Soriano, took the opportunity afforded by the draw for the UEFA Cup in Monaco to declare himself an aficionado of African football. “I am a great fan of African football,” said Soriano. “I like Africa so much and the power of African players.” He doubted that any new players would be brought in before the transfer window closed and they were not, but he had performed wonders in keeping coveted assets at the club. He welcomed the tie against Portuguese side CS Marítimo, which the resurgent Ches successfully negotiated to reach the group stage of the UEFA Cup and looked to provide stability for Valencia to build on after the trials and tribulations of last season. “I hope to win the competitions, but the goal of Valencia is to return to Champions League obviously and to keep fighting with all the teams in all the competitions that we play,” said Soriano. “We will try to fight to win the league, but there’s only one winner in a very difficult competition. We have a very good team, but to win La Liga is very difficult and only one team can win it.” He then assured us that Valencia’s best player David Villa and developing star David Silva were very important to Valencia. “They are with us for a long time,” he said. “In Valencia David Villa and David Silva are two players who are very important to our club.” And would they be staying a long time? “Yes,” said Soriano, “a very long time.”

Uefa’s Director of Communications William Gaillard is a fan of African football as is UEFA President Michel Platini, whom Gaillard is a Special Advisor to as well. “Well you know we have a strong relationship with the African confederation for a long time,” he said. “Our President is looking to some new ways of co-operating with Africa. He is very keen to do something for African football.” Gaillard wants to see greater co-operation and favours a one-off competition between the African and European champions. “It is up to the Federations,” he said. “I mean why not, but it is a question of the separate federations requesting it.”

Gaillard believes that the competitions of both continents could be cross-marketed more efficiently. While he welcomes interest in Africa for European football he does not want to see it happen at the expense of African competitions. “Well, I think we see this year that there is quite a bit of interest in Nigeria,” says Gaillard. “There are very interesting competitions in Africa. The African Champions Cup is an excellent competition. We don’t want to compete with home grown competitions. I mean our interest is for African football to develop, because we have to be altruistic. We are not there to try and poach the market from the African Champions Cup. If there is interest in our competitions in Africa, it’s welcome. There’s a lot of interest in Europe for the African Nations Cup.”

He thinks that European audiences would be interested in African competitions such as the African Champions League as well. “I think there would be quite a bit of interest,” says Gaillard. “I mean if one judges from the African Nations Cup, which is really a hot property in Europe these days, I think maybe not the preliminary stages, but the finals is shown in Europe, then like that I think there could be quite a bit of interest if it is shown in Europe.” He also believes that reciprocal arrangements could be made for top European competitions in Africa, especially in Nigeria. “There is huge interest by Nigerian television for the Champions League,” says Gaillard. “I think there is a great deal of interest in European football there. A lot of Nigerians play in Europe, so they want to see Nigerians play.”

Unlike many in Europe Gaillard has great respect for African football and recognises the phenomenal achievement of Egyptian giants Al-Ahly – the recently crowned African champions for the sixth time. They have dominated Egyptian and African football in recent years and they have achieved something that no other club in the world let alone Europe or Africa have come close to emulating. Several clubs have achieved the treble - the national league: national cup and continental champions’ cup or league now. European clubs have achieved it four times. The first was Celtic in 1967, although the then champions of Congo-Kinshasa Englebert became the first Africans to achieve the treble in truly bizarre circumstances that year as well. Their match against Ghanaian champions Asante Kotoko ended in a draw. The referee decided the victors by tossing a coin, but the decision was revoked by the CAF, which ordered a replay. Kotoko did not turn up, claiming that they had not been informed and the trophy was awarded to Englebert, which has renamed Tout Puissant Mazembe. It was an incredible way to win the first treble in African history.

Five years after Celtic achieved the treble - quadruple actually as they won the Scottish league cup as well - the sensational Dutch maestros Ajax’s total football was rewarded with one of the most entertaining trebles ever achieved. PSV Eindhoven matched their achievement in 1988 and eleven years later Manchester United became the last European club to achieve it to date. However, there have been other trebles across the world.

Somewhat surprisingly, the only treble that has been achieved in the CONCACAF region was won by neither an American nor Mexican team.1 Trinidad and Tobago’s Defence Force were the unlikely treble winners in 1985. No treble has ever been won in South America and it will never happen now, as Brasil was the only country to have a national cup, but any club competing in the Copa Libertadores de América - the continental champions’ cup - is ineligible for the national cup since 2001, so the treble cannot be achieved in South America. No club in Oceania has achieved it either. However, Asian clubs have done it twice, but neither team hailed from South Korea or Japan. Thai Farmers Bank won it in 1995 and Qatar’s Al-Sadd managed to beat them to it by seven years. There have been near misses too, but it has been achieved five times in Africa. Englebert’s compatriots AS Vita Club won it in 1973 and the leading Ghanaian team from Accra - Hearts of Oak - won it in 2000 under the respected coach ‘Sir’ Cecil Jones Attuquayefio.2

Only one club has achieved the treble twice and even more impressively in consecutive seasons 2005 and 2006. That club is an African team - the pride of Egypt - Al-Ahly. Led by the inspirational Mohammed Aboutreika3 - one of the few players to consistently carry sensational club form into the national team - Al-Ahly is the most successful team in Africa and was narrowly defeated in the last World Club Championship in the semi final before taking third place. It was the best performance by an African club in that competition. They will represent Africa in the World Club Championship in Japan next month. While many in Europe pay scant or no respect to the achievements of Al-Ahly and African football in general William Gaillard does not. Although there is the World Club Championship he would not oppose a match between the champions of Africa and Europe to develop closer ties and respect for African football in Europe. “Well you know the international calendar is very tight,” says Gaillard, “but again if there is a proposal coming from the African confederation we will consider it for sure.”

1 The Mexican team Club de Fútbol Pachuca achieved a treble as well, but it was not a traditional one. They finished top of the Mexican league, but received no trophy for it and won the CONCACAF Cup and Copa Sudamericana - a South American equivalent of the UEFA Cup - as well as the Mexican Clausura tournament, which is part of the Mexican league. All of this was won in a calendar year, but is not considered a treble by purists as it involved a lesser trophy and was won in a period spanning two seasons rather than one. Pachuca is the only club to date to have won a trophy of two different continents; although only a select few CONCACAF clubs can achieve this as since 1998 they have been invited to contest the South American competitions as well