Egyptian side Al Ahly Sporting Club is unquestionably the best club in Africa. In 2000, it was named the African Club of the Century by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). When you peruse through the club’s history, all you are left with is a gaping jaw. It is simply amazing. Generally, if you don’t want to feel so terrible about your own club, just don’t compare it with Al Ahly. As one of the oldest on the continent at 108 years, Al Ahly holds the record number of CAF Champions League titles, with eight to its name, while it’s easily the most successful back at home with 37 Egyptian League titles. In total, the club has 106 domestic titles and 20 international titles. In a nutshell, The Red Devils – as it is referred to by its fans – Al Ahly is the best by a mile and the true pride of Africa. In comparison, Rwanda’s best club by far – APR - was in 2013 ranked 74th on the continent and 832nd on the globe, while FIFA considers Al Ahly as 66th best club in the world. Back in history, the two clubs have met twice and APR lost convincingly on both occasions. So this brings me to my argument: What can APR learn from this giant of a club? After watching APR’s humiliating loss to Sudanese side Al Khartoum last Wednesday in the CECAFA Kagame Club Championship, I realized that there is a lot of foundational work that many clubs disregard, yet it is fundamental in their long-term sustainability. So, what has Al Ahly done so well that APR and many other clubs in the region can emulate and become great too? Despite coming from humble beginnings like many other clubs, Al Ahly has managed to gather a humongous following of millions of fans all over the world, not because of football alone, but because it owns other business ventures related to sports. These businesses - a sports television network and a merchandise stores - have been a golden goose to Al Ahly, which can be milked at any time for far more finances that many competitions on the continent can’t afford to provide. On the other hand, here in Rwanda and the East African region in general, football clubs are all about football. No charity, no business ventures, nothing. Just football. The only time they get to interact with their fans is when they are playing in stadiums. On other days, these clubs are ghosts – invisible phantoms. They don’t invest in the production of personalised merchandise and they don’t market their players to the enthusiastic fans. Basically, they have no strategy beyond gate collections and match tactics. This means that those which are not successful at football end up getting peanuts, while those that are locally successful get the prize money, share it among the players and management, and it is all done. This has to change! It is high time clubs realised that in the modern era, they must work as businesses. It doesn’t matter how many league trophies APR wins consecutively - if they can’t generate their own money but continue to depend on handouts from their patrons - they will never be anything beyond local giants. No matter how many fans Rayon Sports boasts of, without operating as a business, they will never make it past the borders of Rwanda. It’s high time our clubs shifted from operating like charities to business entities. If private sponsors are unwilling to shoulder this task, clubs should devise their own strategies to tap into their business potential. rushmugisha@gmail.com
