Top African Football Leagues

Founded in October 1948, the Egyptian Premier League is one of the top professional football leagues in Africa. 18 teams compete in the professional Egyptian league including Al-Ahly which is one of the most successful clubs in Egypt and the most decorated football club in the world with 118 trophies won so far both domestic and intercontinental. Two domestic cups are defined within the Egyptian Premier League: Egyptian Cup and Egyptian Super Cup. The top goalscorer in the history of the Egyptian premier league is Hassan El Shazly, former Tersana forward, with 173 goals.

Top African Football Leagues
The tier after the Egyptian Premier League in Egypt’s football league system is Egyptian Second Division. That means if a team is relegated from the Egyptian Premier League, it should inevitably compete the in Egyptian Second Division. One interesting fact about the Egyptian Premier League is that all the clubs competing in it could also compete in the Egyptian Cup, but only one club - the winner of the league title - could take part in the Egyptian Super Cup. The Egyptian Premier League is also one of the top African leagues, in fact, the third top African league according to CAF's 5-Year Ranking for the 2019–20 season.

Founded in June 1907, Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 is the top-tier league in the Tunisian football league system. It was held in its early years only between five teams, two of them were school teams! With the formation of LTF (Ligue Tunisienne de football) in 1921 which is actually the football federation of Tunisia, the professional league became official. Currently 16 teams compete in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 with Espérance de Tunis being the most successful and most decorated of them all in terms of league titles won so far (29 titles). There is only one cup defined within the professional Tunisian league and that is the Tunisian Cup.

Top African Football Leagues
If a team is relegated from Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1, it has to compete in Ligue Professionnelle 2 which is actually the second tier of the Tunisian football league system. The other top clubs competing in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1, other than Espérance de Tunis, are Club Africain, Etoile Sportive du Sahel, Club Athletic Bizertin, and Club Sportif Sfaxien, founded in 1920, 1925, and 1928 (for the last two), respectively. Among the Tunisian top clubs, only Club Africain and Espérance de Tunis have the largest stadiums in Tunis with a capacity of 60,000.

One of the oldest African football leagues known by several names! Names like Championnat National de Première Division which was often shortened to Championnat National 1, Championnat d'Algérie D1 Nedjma in 2009, Ligue Professionnelle 1 Nedjma from 2010 to 2014 - the name “Nedjma” comes from the Kuwaiti telecommunications company, Nedjma, which was the sponsor of the professional league, and from 2014 on, Ligue Professionnelle 1 Mobilis, again for sponsorship reasons. However, the easiest way to refer to the professional league in Algeria is to call it Ligue 1.

Top African Football Leagues
Ligue 1 was founded in 1904 and became official in 1962 when Algeria was declared an independent nation. Ligue 1 along with another league, namely the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 2 or Ligue 2 are the two top-tier leagues in the Algerian football league system with relegations and promotions between them. In fact, in every season, three top clubs from Ligue 2 promote to Ligue 1 and three clubs at the bottom of Ligue 1 table relegate to Ligue 2. 16 clubs compete in each of the leagues, and the most successful clubs in term of league titles won in them are JS Kabylie in Ligue 1 with 14 titles, and USM Bel-Abbès in Ligue 2 with 5 titles. Also, the top scorer in the history of Ligue 1 is Mohamed Messaoud with 107 goals scored in total.

Founded in 1956, Ghana Premier League is the top-tier league in the Ghanaian football league system with two domestic cups: Ghana FA Cup and Ghana Super Cup. In terms of ranking, Ghana Premier League was the 11th top football league in Africa and 65th in the world from 2001 to 2010 according to a ranking by IFFHS (The International Federation of Football History & Statistics). However, according to another ranking done by the same organization in 2019, Nigeria has replaced Ghana with 271 points and sits on the 77th place in the world.

Top African Football Leagues
The most successful team in Ghana Premier League is Asante Kotoko with a record 24 league titles won so far. The next tier after the Ghana Premier League is Division One League. In every season, three teams are exchanged between the two leagues: three are relegated from the Ghana Premier League, and three are promoted to it, namely from the Division One League. Currently, 18 teams compete in the Ghana Premier League, and 16 in the Division One League. And besides Asante Kotoko, there is another top team in the Ghanaian top-tier league, namely Hearts of Oak, who have won a considerable number of league titles (20) so far. The two teams have, in fact, dominated the Ghanaian professional league in terms of the league titles won.

The top-tier Moroccan league, Botola Pro 1 also known as Botola 1 or Botola, is contested by 16 top Moroccan clubs who are actually the shareholders of the professional league. Botola Pro 1 is in fact a corporation and is sponsored by Maroc Télécom, the main telecommunication company in Morocco, however, after 2019, the Maroc Télécom logo is not included in the professional league logo. In terms of audience, Botola Pro 1 ranks first among the African leagues: the top-tier Moroccan league has been broadcast in 153 regions to an audience of 2 billion people so far. Also in 2010-11 season, its average attendance (over 25,000) was more than any other African league.

Top African Football Leagues
In the same season, Botola Pro 1 was announced the top African league with 511 points - occupying 27th place on the list of top leagues in the world - according to a ranking by IFFHS. There is only one domestic cup defined within the top Moroccan league and that is Coupe du Trône (Moroccan Throne Cup). The most successful team in Botola Pro 1 is Wydad Casablanca with 20 league titles and 9 Moroccan Throne Cup trophies won so far. The next tier on the Moroccan football league pyramid after Botoloa Pro 1 is Botoloa 2; that means if a team is relegated from Botola 1, it should inevitably compete in Botola 2.