The enthusiasm for soccer in Africa knows no bounds and we want to provide you with exciting background information on the best teams and leagues so that you can successfully bet on matches in Africa. In every African country, children kick a ball in the street every day and admire their great idols who have leaped Europe, some even to the top of the world. So if you want to place a bet better listen to the expert football opinions at 22Bet.
Especially from countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, or, more recently, Guinea, Mali, or the DR Congo, countless top talents move to Europe or Asia every year. The leagues of the best African soccer nations are therefore to be seen as training leagues and do not enjoy any great continuity in the player sector.
We take a look at the most important leagues, teams, and matches in Africa, provide over/under predictions, and analyze which bets make Africa interesting!
The most exciting leagues in Africa are played in the north – where the fan stands are impressive to watch week after week and soccer is generally of a higher quality and financially better positioned than in the southern regions of the continent.
North and South, West and East meet in Africa in the CAF Champions League. The African Association CAF holds this tournament every year, usually involving more than 50 teams in the qualifying rounds and then progressing through four groups to the quarter-finals, from which a knockout system of first and second legs is used. There is also a first and second leg in the final.
Betting On The Caf
The African version of the premier league has always been an exciting pool of numerous top talents and, given that the seasonal performances of many clubs – especially in southern Saharan Africa – are very difficult to predict in advance, a platform for numerous tangible surprises.
The competition was first held in 1964 and since then there have been 26 different winners from 12 different countries. The most successful teams in the tournament naturally come from Africa’s north: Egypt’s teams won 15 titles, followed by Morocco with seven, Tunisia and DR Congo with six each, and Algeria and Cameroon with five each.
The most successful title holders in the CAF Champions League
- 9 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)
- Wydad Casablanca (MOR)
- 2 Asante Kotoko (GHA)
- Enyimba FC (NIG)
- JS Kabylie (ALG)
- ES Sétif (ALG)
So the two big teams in the African Champions League are Egypt’s top clubs Al Ahly and Zamalek, who have a great and long-standing rivalry. In recent years, however, Congolese club Mazembe has also stalked the top, winning three tournaments between 2009 and 2015. In general, the North African clubs, with their extremely tough style of play and significantly greater financial resources, are largely superior to the other teams. These facts, as well as the violence of some fans, have already been the subject of criticism from other members of the association against the competitors from the north. While the CAF Champions League is still very spectacular in the preliminary round and group matches with many goals, the average number of goals traditionally decreases in the knockout phase.
Betting On The Leagues
For real soccer betting experts, the more exotic African leagues hold a lot of appeal. Here you will find many stars of tomorrow, a bit of healthy, playful chaos, and a high level of athleticism across the board.
Betting In Africa
Even in the leagues with lower fan numbers, weaker infrastructure, or sometimes even chaotic conditions, there are some clubs and, above all, heated duels that deserve a mention. We take a closer look at the interesting teams and matches from Africa’s “exotic leagues”.
Mamelodi Sundowns – Betting On South Africa’s Record Champions
Together with Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, and Supersport United, Sundowns are the only team in South Africa to have participated in every season of South Africa’s top league since it was founded in 1996.
Having won twelve championships, the Brazilians, as the Mamelodi Sundowns are known because of their yellow and blue kits, are the country’s record champions. From 2018 to 2022 alone, Sundowns won five championships in a row. On average, only a few more goals are scored in the South African league than in the low-scoring North African leagues, meaning that Sundowns have often ended up at the top of the table with only around 50 goals in 30 league games. The team’s goals per game are often even below the league average. 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 and Bongani Zungu, who moved from here to Europe.
Js Kabylie – Betting On The Canaries
Even though JS Kabylie has lost some of its importance in recent years, the Canaries are Algeria’s most successful team. Although they are overshadowed by the two capital city clubs MC Algiers and USM Algiers, who play out the “Derby of Algeria”, the clash between Kabylie and MC Algiers is still referred to as the “Algerian Clásico”. Like the other North African leagues, Algeria’s Ligue 1 is extremely low-scoring, which is currently largely down to 14-time champions Kabylie. The team’s goal average over an entire season is often less than two goals per game, and in the 2016/17 season, it was just 1.46 goals per game. So when the yellows play, the crowd isn’t offered too much.
Asante Kotoko – Betting On The Porcupines
Asante Kotoko SC from the city of Kumasi is the current Ghanaian record champion. The Porcupines have won 26 national championships to date, narrowly relegating their biggest rivals Hearts of Oak to second place. The club traditionally has a great fighter mentality and likes to surround itself with an aura of invincibility. The heraldic animal alone should prove how unpleasant the red and whites are. The club’s motto is: “If you kill a thousand, a thousand new ones will come”. Asante Kotoko is regarded as a good training club and has produced players such as Samuel Kuffour, Isaac Vorsah, and Abdul Rahman Baba. It is no coincidence that the Kumasi club’s best “exports” were defenders. Even in their worst seasons, the team’s goals conceded average remains below 1.00 per game. 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 training clubs in sub-Saharan Africa. Founded by Benedictine monks, the club from the southern city of Lubumbashi has not only won 18 national championships but also the CAF Champions League five times, making it the first runner-up to record winners Al-Ahly, on a par with Zamalek. Later top European players such as Roger Assalé, Dieumerci Mbokani, and Mbwana Samatta played for Mazembe before moving abroad. The superiority of TP Mazembe in the Congolese Ligue 1 is striking and the team often finishes the 16-team Congolese league as superior champions, scoring two to three goals per game on average and conceding only a few goals.
Kaizer Chiefs – Orlando Pirates: Betting On The Soweto Derby
The big derby in Johannesburg, South Africa has an interesting history: Kaizer Chiefs were founded by a former Orlando Pirates player after he returned from a stint in North America and fell out with the Pirates’ management. The club founded by the ex-Pirate thus became the Orlando Pirates’ new great rival, especially as the Kaizer Chiefs also play in the Soweto district.
