Cardoso Drives Far Vs Sundowns Into 1-0 Final Second Leg
Mamelodi Sundowns carry a 1-0 lead into far vs sundowns on Sunday in Morocco, with the CAF Champions League final now down to one match and one result. The aggregate winner will take a record $6m, while the champion also moves closer to a minimum $9.5m payout tied to 2029 FIFA Club World Cup qualification.
For Miguel Cardoso, the pressure is personal as well as collective. He has lost his last two finals, and Sundowns are trying to finish a below-par season with the one trophy that still changes the story.
Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium
The second leg goes at the 70,000-seat Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Morocco, where Sundowns must protect the advantage they built in the first leg. AS FAR Rabat need to overturn that margin on home ground, and the winner leaves with the continent’s richest club prize attached to the title.
The scale of the match is not limited to the trophy. It will be broadcast in more than 100 countries, and the club crowned champions in Rabat can also bank a further $500,000 by winning a CAF Super Cup match.
Cardoso Under Pressure
Cardoso has taken clubs to the last two Champions League finals and lost both, first with Esperance of Tunisia in 2024 and then with Sundowns last season. No coach has reached three consecutive Champions League finals and lost them all since the competition debuted in 1964, which puts Sunday’s result squarely on his record as much as on the team’s.
He has not lifted a trophy in his first full season in charge of Sundowns, and the club also failed to win any of the three domestic knockout competitions. Orlando Pirates won the South African Premiership by beating Orbit College 2-0 a day before Sundowns face AS FAR, ending the run of eight straight league titles Sundowns had put together before Pirates took over.
Money And 2029
There is more at stake than a single final. Sundowns returned home $12.5m richer after the first edition of the world club championship in the United States last year, including a $9.5m participation fee at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, $2m for beating Ulsan of South Korea and $1m for drawing with Fluminense of Brazil.
Pyramids already secured a place in the 2029 World Club Championship by beating Sundowns in the 2025 Champions League final, and they will be joined by the winners of the next three editions, starting with this showdown between AS FAR and Sundowns. Cardoso’s line about the moment fits the stage he is on: “The current moment is for my players to make history.”
