IMG, the sports and entertainment giant, has secured an exclusive contract to distribute international media rights for events organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in more than 85 countries for the 2023-2025 cycle.
The deal excludes the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The agreement will see IMG manage the broadcast deals for the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations - the upcoming 2023 edition in the Ivory Coast and the 2025 tournament in Morocco - as well as the qualifiers.
Additionally, IMG will distribute the media rights for the 2024 Africa Women Cup of Nations, the African Nations Championship, the men and women’s CAF Champions League, the 2023-24 CAF Confederation Cup, 2024 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations, and the 2024 Futsal Africa Cup of Nations.
Robyn Cox, vice president and managing director in Africa for IMG’s media business, said: “The Africa Cup of Nations is the biggest event on the African Continent and one of football’s most watched competitions.
“We’re looking forward to expanding our partnership with CAF to help unlock greater value from its media rights, grow the competition’s global audiences, and enhance fans viewing experience.”
The deal strengthens IMG’s partnership with CAF, having recently been appointed as the federation’s global sponsorship agency through 2025. The company has already secured a deal with Puma to supply the official match ball for CAF-organized tournaments.
IMG also provides marketing intelligence, data analysis, and consultancy services to support CAF in the development of its new commercial sponsorship strategy.
Last month (November), CAF and global sports broadcasting network BeIN Sports ended their two-month-long dispute and recommitted to their rights contract.
CAF had unilaterally terminated their contract in September over unpaid rights fees.
The deal covers several countries in the MENA region, as well as markets such as Asia, France, and the US.
Meanwhile, CAF rights in Sub-Saharan Africa were recently acquired by New World TV, the Togo-based satellite television network, under a three-year deal with the federation.
The agreement covers the free-to-air and paid broadcast rights to all CAF competitions from 2023 to 2025 in 46 countries.
