CAF Disciplinary Board v. Mamelodi Sundowns FC

Mamelodi Sundowns hosted Esperance Sportive de Tunis in the first leg of a 2024/25 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League quarter-final in Pretoria on 1 April 2025, a match marred by clashes in the stands. Sundowns won the first leg 1-0 and advanced after a goalless second leg in Tunis a week later.

The CAF Disciplinary Board charged Mamelodi Sundowns with breaching Articles 82 and 83.2 of the CAF Disciplinary Code, alongside Articles 32 and 35 of the CAF Safety and Security Regulations, arising from the security failures at the Pretoria leg. The Board found the club guilty and imposed a fine of USD 100,000, together with a direction that Sundowns strictly implement the safety and security measures specified in CAF's regulations, guidelines, and directives in its upcoming matches.

Esperance was separately sanctioned in the same set of proceedings, fined USD 150,000 for its own supporters' misconduct linked to the same clashes in the stands. The ruling landed with particular weight on both clubs' calendars: Sundowns and Esperance were two of Africa's four representatives at the inaugural expanded, 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, running in the United States from 14 June to 13 July 2025 — Sundowns drawn against Ulsan (South Korea), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), and Fluminense (Brazil), playing in Orlando, Cincinnati, and Miami; Esperance drawn against Chelsea (England) and Flamengo (Brazil), playing in Philadelphia and Nashville. Sundowns' very next fixture after the fine was a home first leg against fellow Club World Cup qualifier Al Ahly of Egypt in the Champions League semi-final, just two days later.

The case attracted particular attention in the football press because of who owns Mamelodi Sundowns: South African mining billionaire Patrice Motsepe, who is also FIFA's vice president and, notably, CAF's own sitting president — re-elected unopposed only weeks before this ruling. CAF's disciplinary process nonetheless proceeded to fine the club owned by its own president, which several outlets highlighted as a datapoint on the independence of CAF's disciplinary machinery from its political leadership.