African Football League

Gianni Infantino launched the tournament during a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to celebrate the 80th anniversary of TP Mazembe, saying the top 20 clubs in Africa should be chosen and made to participate in an African league. Infantino said this league would generate revenues of $100 million, making it among the top ten leagues in the world, and revealed that he was launching an appeal to raise $1 billion in order to give every African country a football stadium that complies with the specifications of FIFA.

On 17 July 2021, the President of CAF, Patrice Motsepe, confirmed the move to implement the African Super League project as a new tournament ran under the umbrella of CAF, with large financial returns for the sides taking part. The Confederation of African Football launched the competition on 10 August 2022 in Arusha, Tanzania, where more information about the competition was released.

CAF initially wanted to start the competition in August 2023, with reports suggest that 24 clubs would feature in three groups of eight teams, ahead of a knockout stage starting at the Round of 16. These teams would have been taken from the best-ranked African clubs over the past few years, with groups played on a regional basis (North, Central/West, South/East). As part of the club licensing criteria, participating clubs would be required to have a youth academy and a women's team.

On 9 June, the president of CAF, Patrice Motsepe, announced the decision to change the name of the African Super League to the African Football League during an interview with beIN Sport. saying "Our friends in Europe advised us not to use the expression 'Super League' due to the negative associations with the recent failed attempt in European football." On 13 June 2023, during that year's CAF General Assembly in Abidjan, Infantino announced that the competition would be scaled back to 8 teams for the inaugural edition and would now kick off on 20 October 2023, which would be followed by an expanded tournament further down the line. The Africa Football League would also not replace CAF's top club competition, the CAF Champions League. On 29 August 2023, the competition format for the inaugural edition was announced, with the previous format announced to be adopted starting in 2024–25. On 20 October 2023, the president of CAF, Patrice Motsepe, unveiled the African football league trophy.