Tunisia's Esperance have won the African Champions League after a 1-0 win over 10-man Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in the second leg of the final.
They take the title 1-0 on aggregate after a 0-0 draw in the first leg.
Esperance will represent Africa at the Club World Cup in Japan which takes place next month and claim prize money of $1.5m (£933,000).
Wydad played most of the game a man down after defender Mourad el Massane was sent off for a crude challenge on Esperance striker Yannick N'djeng at the end of the first half.
Afful's strike came in the 21st minute of the game - the Ghanaian broke down the right hand side, cut infield and fired a powerful shot past Wydad's young keeper Yassine Bounou.
The two teams were playing their fourth game against each other in this year's Champions League - having also met in two group matches - and each of the previous three games had ended in a draw.
The over-familiarity served to cancel out the creativity and the spectacle was not enhanced by the sending-off of Massane.
But Esperance celebrated in style, as they claimed the continental crown for the first time in 17 years - and can now prepare to represent Africa on the global stage.
source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/15708355.stm
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