Cameroon’s Andre Onana is among the high-profile sub-Saharan African players in the EPL. (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Heavyweight sports agency Infront has secured free-to-air broadcast distribution rights across sub-Saharan Africa to action from English soccer’s top-tier Premier League (EPL) and FA Cup competitions, through 2027-28.

This represents an extension of Infront’s existing EPL media rights tie-up in that region, while the FA Cup element is a new deal for the Swiss agency.

Through the agreement, Infront will distribute rights to 33 EPL games per season – from 2025-26 to the end of 2027-28 – across 48 sub-Saharan African countries, alongside four rounds from the FA Cup knockout competition every year.

The sale comes with the EPL now in charge of FA Cup distribution rights in certain territories, with that agreement having come into effect last year.

Infront’s current EPL media rights distribution tie-up in sub-Saharan Africa began in 2022-23 (with the deal announced in March 2021) and comes to an end after the ongoing 2024-25 season. GlobalData Sport has valued that agreement at $19.5 million in total.

In terms of the EPL, Infront has claimed that over 25 broadcasters in the region now show games FTA weekly, “with plans to further increase accessibility in the coming years.”

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Andreas Kaeshammer, Infront’s head of football, said: “As one of the few major agencies managing Premier League media rights, we’ve worked seamlessly with the league’s in-house team to drive significant growth and deliver tangible results. This approach has cemented our position as a trusted partner to four of Europe’s top five leagues.

“The inclusion of FA Cup matches is another milestone in our mission to increase football’s reach in a region with an immense fanbase.”

Paul Molnar, chief media officer at the Premier League, added: “This renewal demonstrates our shared commitment to an important region that is home to a large number of loyal Premier League fans.”

Multiple high-profile players in the top tier of English soccer hail from sub-Saharan Africa, including Manchester United's Andre Onana (Cameroon), Tottenham Hotspur's Yves Bissouma (Mali), and Arsenal's Thomas Partey (Ghana).

In terms of recent Infront activity, late last week it was unveiled that the agency has entered into a new contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), through which it will manage the commercialization of the IOC’s archive.

The deal runs for the 2025-28 cycle and covers the hours of audiovisual content – more than 60,000 in total – which make up the IOC's archive, from the first-ever modern Olympic Games through to action from Paris 2024.

For the EPL and FA Cup, meanwhile, December saw deals disclosed in Poland (Canal Plus) and Vietnam (Astro) for the 2025-26 to 2027-28 cycle.