Following the successful rollout of the pilot phase of the CAF Club Licensing Online Platform, CLOP, CAF is proud to announce the expansion of the CLOP to top-tier men’s club competitions across all 54 Member Associations.
The CLOP system CLOP is an electronic tool deviced by CAF to manage the club licensing and stadium inspection process for both continental and domestic competitions.
Through the platform, each Member Association is equipped with a fully automated and electronic club licensing process, which allows clubs to archive and submit their club Licensing documents virtually for CAF Club Interclub competitions.
In line with its objective of developing football across the continent, CAF has now extended the system to all its Member Associations to implement within their domestic top-tier club competitions.
In line with Article 64 of the CAF Men’s Club Licencing Regulations (edition 2022), the system will focus on implementing domestic club licensing criteria for men’s top-tier national club competition across CAF’s 54 Member Associations.
The initiative aims to implement club licensing criteria for the top-tier national club competitions in all 54 Member Associations.
This process follows Article 64 of the CAF Men’s Club Licensing Regulations (2022 edition). Muhammad F. Sidat, CAF’s Head of Professional Football, emphasized that implementing CLOP in domestic competitions would guarantee adherence to minimum standards across professional football in Africa.
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“With the implementation of this new Club Licensing framework, CAF intends to ensure that minimum standards are adhered to by all clubs, not only the ones competing in CAF Interclub competitions but also, as a minimum, the clubs taking part in Top Tier Men’s National Club Competition in Africa. This measure is part of a medium-term process to elevate and improve domestic club football competitions in the 54 CAF Member Associations”, said Sidat.
For the 2024/25 season, member associations must ensure that all clubs aiming to join the top-tier national club competition meet the domestic club licensing criteria as per the CAF Men’s Club Licensing regulations (2022 edition). These criteria cover various aspects like sports, infrastructure, personnel and administrative, legal, and financial management.
CLOP is now officially open and available for Member Associations for the 2024/25 national competition season. It applies to Member Associations whose sporting calendars run from January 2024 to December 2024 and from July 2024 to June 2025.
