STAR GAZING

AS MAMELODI SUNDOWNS SEARCH FOR THEIR SECOND STAR IN THIS YEAR'S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, QUESTIONS REMAIN OVER THE COMPETITION'S FUTURE

- Mark Gleeson

Mamelodi Sundowns will complete a ninth consecutive group phase in the African Champions League this month and look for another tilt at the title in a year where the continent's top club competition is fighting for its life.

Sundowns have made very little secret of their ambition to conquer the Champions League and add a second star to their badge, having put the first on after their victory in the 2016 edition.

151 By the end of this year's Group Phase, Mamelodi Sundowns will have played 151 games in the Champions League, almost double the next highest by a South African club, the 86 of Orlando Pirates.

But the competition itself is under threat, ironically from the same man bankrolling Sundowns' aspirations.

Confederation of African Football president Patrick Motsepe, who is also the owner of the Pretoria-based club, has been an enthusiastic acolyte of FIFA president Gianni Infantino's proposition that the future of the African game is best served by a continental super league.

1 The very first goal scored by a South African in the Champions League came from Kaizer Chiefs forward Eric September, who netted against Lobatse Gunners from Botswana in 1993.

It is an idea he floated several years ago, bandying around the prospect of millions of dollars in income, yet at the same time condemning similar plans in Europe after they had been stymied by widespread, and outspoken, condemnation through all sectors of the football community.

The African project, however, went ahead last year with the launch of the African Football League, albeit in a form nowhere resembling the grandiose plans that Infantino had originally floated.