Unilever Joins as Sponsor for AFCON 2023-2024

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) governing body has announced Unilever as the exclusive personal care and consumer goods partner of the next two Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) national teams tournaments. The partnership, which covers the upcoming men's 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast and women's 2024 AFCON in Morocco, will see Unilever's brands, including Rexona (also known as Shield, Sure), Dove, Dove Men+Care, and Axe become official sponsors of the tournaments, with the company also working closely with the CAF on a variety of soccer initiatives across Africa. CAF president Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “Our partnership with Unilever and our sponsors are contributing to CAF achieving its objective of making CAF competitions and African football globally competitive and appealing to football fans and broadcasting viewers in Africa and worldwide. “We are pleased to welcome Unilever as the latest official sponsor of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 and the TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2024. “We are also delighted with the numerous sponsors that we have been announcing over the past year and are excited about the new sponsors who continuously approach us with the intention of partnering with CAF.” Chief executive of Unilever International, Assem Puri, added: “We are thrilled to partner with the Confédération Africaine de Football and engage a large audience through our personal care brands. “Through this partnership, we are also excited to connect with the future generation of football athletes across the African continent and help them grow.” The men's 2023 Africa Cup of Nations will begin on January 13, while the Women's Africa Cup of Nations 2024 will take place in the summer of 2024 in Morocco, with dates yet to be announced. This year's Africa Cup of Nations is being title-sponsored by energy firm TotalEnergies through a major eight-year deal struck in 2016. Other sponsors include Ivorian firm Smart Technology and motorcycle firm Apsonic, while the African soccer body recently unveiled sponsorship deals with international credit card giant Visa, the Visit Saudi tourism board, and Orange. These tie-ups came after CAF appointed sports and entertainment giant IMG as its global sponsorship agency until 2025.