Betting on African Football

Football enthusiasm in Africa knows no borders. In every African country, children kick the ball in the streets every day and admire their great idols, who have made the leap to Europe, and some have even reached the top of the world. Especially from countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, the Ivory Coast or most recently Guinea, Mali or the DR Congo, countless top talents move to Europe or Asia every year. The leagues of the best African football nations are therefore to be seen as development leagues and do not enjoy great continuity in the player sector. The most exciting leagues in Africa can be found up north – the fan stands are impressive to look at week by week, and football is generally of higher quality and financially better positioned than in the southern regions of the continent.

North and South, West and East meet in Africa as part of the CAF Champions League. The African association CAF holds this tournament annually, usually lets more than 50 teams qualify and after a group stage of four groups it goes on to the quarter-finals, from which the game is played as a home and away duel just like in the UEFA Champions League. There is also a first and second leg in the final.

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Betting on the CAF Champions League

The African version of Europe’s top-class has always been an exciting pool of numerous top talents and, given that the seasonal performance of many clubs – especially south of the Sahara desert – is very difficult to foresee in advance, is also a platform for numerous surprise wins. The competition was held for the first time in 1964 and since then there have been 26 different title holders from 12 different countries. The most successful teams in the tournament naturally come from the north of Africa: Egypt’s teams won 14 titles, followed by Morocco, Tunisia and the DR Congo, each with six successes, and Algeria and Cameroon with five each.

The most successful title holders in the CAF Champions League

8              Ah Ahly Cairo (EGY)
5              Zamalek SC (EGY)
                TP Mazembe (DRC)
4              Espérance Tunis (TUN)
3              Raja Casablanca (MOR)
                Hafia FC (GUI)
                Canon Yaoundé (CMR)
2              Asante Kotoko (GHA)
                Enyimba FC (NIG)
                JS Kabylie (ALG)
                ES Sétif (ALG)
                Wydad Casablanca (MOR)

The two big teams in the African Champions League are the top Egyptian clubs Al Ahly and Zamalek, which have a long a fierce rivalry. In recent years, however, the Congolese club Mazembe has stalked to the top, winning three tournaments between 2009 and 2015. In general, the North African clubs, with their extremely hard playing style and significantly larger financial resources, are largely superior to the other clubs. These facts, as well as the violent behaviour of some fans, have already been the subject of criticism by other members of the association against their competitors from the north. While the CAF Champions League still sees a lot of goals in the preliminary round and group matches, the average number of goals traditionally decreases in the knockout phase.

Betting on African leagues

For real football experts, the more exotic African leagues hold a lot of charm. There are many stars of tomorrow to find in smaller league, and also a sometimes quite funny portion of chaos and a high level of athleticism can be observed within those leagues. Overall, however, the best leagues in Africa can be found in the north and especially the national competitions in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia are highly explosive and characterized by heated duels between archrivals. We look at the top leagues and also take a look at other important teams from the “Black Continent”.

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Egypt: Betting on the EPL

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Morocco: Betting on the Botola

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Tunisia: Betting on the Ligue Professionnelle 1

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South Africa, Congo and Co. – betting on Africa’s exotic leagues

Even in the leagues with fewer fans, weaker infrastructure or sometimes even chaotic conditions, there are some clubs and especially heated duels that need to be mentioned. We take a closer look at the interesting teams and games from the “exotic leagues” of Africa.

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Mamelodi Sundowns – betting on South Africa’s record champions

Together with the Kaizer Chiefs, the Orlando Pirates and Supersport United, the Sundowns are the only team in South Africa that has participated in all seasons of South Africa’s top league since their establishment in 1996. With nine championships won, the Brazilians, as the Mamelodi Sundowns are called because of their yellow-blue dresses, are clearly the country’s record champions. In the South African league, on average, there are only a few more goals than in the low-scoring North African leagues, and it has often happened that the Sundowns ended up at the top of the table with only around 50 goals scored in 30 league games. The team often stays below the league average in terms of goals per game. The Sundowns are known for buying talented young players from other African countries. However, the club also trained some top South African talents such as Percy Tau or Bongani Zungu, who moved from here to Europe.

JS Kabylie – Betting on the Canaries

Even though JS Kabylie has lost importance and popularity in recent years, the Canaries are clearly the most successful team in Algeria. Despite being overshadowed by the two capital city clubs, MC Algiers and USM Algiers, which host the “Derby of Algeria”, the duel between Kabylie and MC Algiers is still referred to as the “Algerian Clásico”. Like other North African leagues, there few goals are scored in the Algerian Ligue 1, which is currently largely due to the 14-time champions Kabylie. The team’s average goal over a whole season is often less than two goals per game, in the season 2016/17 there were only 1.46 goals per game. So you don’t get much for your money when you watch the yellow players live at the stadium…

Asante Kotoko – Betting on the Porcupines

The Asante Kotoko SC from the city of Kumasi are currently Ghana’s record champion. The Porcupines have won 24 national championships so far, placing the biggest competitor Hearts of Oak in second place. The club traditionally has a great fighting spirit and likes to surround itself with the aura of invincibility. The heraldic animal alone should prove how uncomfortable the Red and White are. The motto of the club is: “If you kill a thousand, a thousand new ones will come”. Asante Kotoko is considered a good development club and has produced players such as Samuel Kuffour, Isaac Vorsah and Abdul Rahman Baba. It is no coincidence that the club’s best “exports” from Kumasi were defenders. Even in their worst seasons, the team concedes less than 1.00 goals per game on average. In general, the Ghanaian record champions are also a “low scoring team”.

TP Mazembe – Betting on the Ravens

The Congolese club TP Mazembe is one of the most successful clubs and also one of the best schooling clubs in sub-Saharan Africa. The club, founded by Benedictine monks from the southern city of Lubumbashi, not only won 17 national championships, but also five times the CAF Champions League, making it the first pursuer (together with Zamalek) of record winner Al-Ahly. Later top players in European clubs, such as Roger Assalé, Dieumerci Mbokani or Mbwana Samatta, played for Mazembe before moving abroad. The superiority of TP Mazembe in Congolese Ligue 1 is striking and the team ends the Congo league of 16 frequently with two to three goals per game on average and only a few goals conceded as the superior champions.

Kaizer Chiefs v Orlando Pirates: Bet on the Soweto Derby

The great derby of Johannesburg, South Africa has an interesting story: The Kaizer Chiefs were founded by a former Orlando Pirates player after he returned from a North American intermezzo and later disputed with those responsible for the Pirates. The club founded by the Ex-Pirate became the new great rival of the Orlando Pirates, especially since the Kaizer Chiefs also play in the Soweto district. The derby has been held for around 50 years and the Kaizer Chiefs have so far been the slightly more successful of the two teams, which have currently won as many South African championships. There are often winners in this duel: only about 22% of all Soweto derbies end in a draw.

MC Algiers – USM Algiers: Betting on the Algiers Derby

The hot derby of the Algerian capital has been held since 1940 and is considered one of the top games in North Africa. An unusual derby situation is that there has only been one season in Algerian league history in which both Algiers clubs competed for the title. This was the case in 2004/05 – otherwise this derby is only about domination in the city and – at least in the league – hardly about silverware. It is striking, however, that the players in the Algerian top game are likely to be heated up. Between 2000 and 2019 alone, 23 red cards were distributed in the Algiers derby. This corresponds approximately to one red card per year or at least one expulsion every two derbies. Overall, MC Algiers is the more successful team than the smaller USM Algiers and with 2.21 goals per derby, the duel is quite high scoring in North African, but clearly not in international comparison.

Hearts of Oak v Asante Kotoko: Betting on Hearts-Kotoko

The most important game in Ghana is the clash between record champions Asante Kotoko and the Hearts of Oak, which are only a few championship titles behind the big rival in historical terms. The two teams from the two largest cities in the country – Asante Kotoko from Kumasi, Hearts of Oak from the capital Accra – are the clearly defining clubs of Ghana. As with many other top derbies on the African continent, there are riots around the Hearts-Kotoko and tragedies in the stadium due to the poor infrastructure. As with the titles, Asante Kotoko is just ahead of Hearts of Oak a few wins in the low scoring Ghana classic.