Saudi Arabia in $200m African Super League talks:

• Saudi Arabia may boost World Cup bid hopes with African Super League sponsorship.

Saudi Arabia is in talks over a $200m sponsorship deal for a new African Super League football competition, according to reports by UK news outlet the Guardian.

The new football tournament is part of plans to raise interest and revenue for football in the region and is part of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) development plans.

Supported by FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino, CAF has mulled a 24-team tournament.

Saudi African Super League plans.

Super League plans have been in discussion for five years and any future competitions could be lucrative for both clubs and football development in the continent.

When first announcing the tournament in 2022, Infantino said that an African Super League would generate revenues of $100m, making it among the top ten leagues in the world.

He also planned an appeal to raise $1bn in order to give every African country a football stadium that complies with the specifications of FIFA.

According to the Guardian report a competition could launch as early as the 2024-25 season, with Saudi Arabia sponsoring a simplified eight-team tournament at launch.

Last week CAF signed a five-year deal with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to “foster growth opportunities for African and Saudi Arabian football”.

CAF president Patrice Motsepe said: “CAF is excited to work together and partner with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to develop and grow football on our continent and globally.

“There are also specific areas for mutually beneficial partnerships that we are discussing and announcements will be made in due course.”

The strengthening of ties between Saudi Football authorities and the game’s governors in Africa could boost a long-planned bid for the Kingdom to host the FIFA World Cup.

Last year Saudi Arabia’s Sports Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal says Saudi Arabia would love to host a future World Cup.

Prince Abdulaziz confirmed Saudi Arabia is interested in hosting a future World Cup bid.

“Why not? Who wouldn’t want to host the World Cup?,” he said. “We host a lot of events in the region.

“Any country in the world would love to host the World Cup. It’s an amazing tournament and it’s good for every country to host such an event.

The 2026 World Cup will be hosted in North America, with Canada, Mexico and the US sharing duties. The soonest the Kingdom could host the tournament is 2030 and no official host nation has yet been named.