A Defining Commercial Moment for African Football
On 24 July, CAF opened the tender for commercial rights to the next three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, covering media, broadcast and sponsorship for 2028, 2032 and 2036.
The process is beginning an orchestrated moment when the federation’s global agency agreement with IMG expired after the Morocco tournament, and the switch to a four-year AFCON cycle creates scarcity that analysts expect to lift the value of future packages. With AFCON accounting for somewhere between two-thirds and 80% of CAF’s total revenue, this tender sets African football’s commercial position for the next decade.
The Value of the AFCON Audience
African football already has a proven audience, and sponsors have put a price on it. AFCON 2025 generated around $192.6 million in total revenue, with $126.2 million of that coming from sponsorship. TotalEnergies has been title sponsor since 2016, and they extended the deal in January 2025, across 12 competitions through to 2028. The terms of said deal have been kept private by both parties, though CAF described the increase on the previous eight-year deal, reported at $250 million, as substantial. Also, twenty-three partners signed on for the competition in Morocco, including Orange, Puma, Suzuki and Visa. Those brands pay in hard currency for reach, and they have valued African football’s audience at a level the market can see.
Those brands pay in hard currency for reach, and they have valued African football’s audience at a level the market can see.
The Gap Between Sponsorship and Media Rights
Media rights delivered $46.5 million from the same tournament. Sponsors paid nearly three times what broadcasters did for the same audience, and closing that gap is the opportunity in front of this tender.
The selling process is already fixed, which means the work sits elsewhere. CAF’s 2023 to 2025 Sub-Saharan agreement with New World TV, covering English and local-language rights across 46 countries, came out of a competitive tender that drew several global broadcasters and agencies, with IMG holding the international mandate alongside it. The 2024/25 interclub rights went the same route, with SuperSport, SABC and Azam Media bidding competitively and the rights split between them. Another interclub tender ran last October, and the reach of the competitions has been growing. AFCON 2025 landed in 180 territories through a sub-licensed portfolio, with SuperSport across English and Portuguese-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa, Canal+ in French-language markets, beIN across MENA, and a record twenty European partnerships including all 52 matches free-to-air on Channel 4 in the UK.
Competitive tenders and record distribution produced media revenue at a third of sponsorship. That locates the opportunity precisely, in the economics of who is bidding.
The Currency Challenge for Traditional Broadcasters
MultiChoice, which carries SuperSport and holds the deepest pay-TV distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa, prices European content in dollars while collecting subscriptions in naira, cedi and rand. When the naira moved from around 464 to over 1,300 against the dollar, Nigerian revenue fell from $356 million to $198 million in a year. The group has shed roughly 1.8 million subscribers outside South Africa since 2021, and Showmax was shut down in March 2026. A buyer with a shrinking subscriber base bids less across every package it holds. Bringing in buyers whose revenue holds up in local currency is what moves the media line toward what sponsors already pay.
Bringing in buyers whose revenue holds up in local currency is what moves the media line toward what sponsors already pay.
The Visible Buyers of African Football
Telcos and the Mobile Audience
Telcos are at the forefront. Orange Middle East and Africa took mobile-only rights for AFCON 2025, carrying 35 matches to Max it app users across thirteen Sub-Saharan countries. A telco prices against airtime and data revenue, which behaves differently from a subscription base under currency pressure. With 41% of fans across six African markets consuming football primarily on mobile, mobile-only inventory carved into all three AFCON cycles gives that class of buyer something to bid on every year.
The Growing Role of Streaming
Streamers are closely behind and getting more excited. Netflix ran a daily highlights show through AFCON 2025, and SportyTV took South Africa’s pay-TV streaming rights for the 2026 World Cup a year after entering that market. Keeping the agency cycle short lets CAF reprice as these buyers scale, and the four-year AFCON rhythm now aligns with that.
Free-to-Air as a Commercial Asset
Free-to-air is the third, and it pays through the sponsorship line. CAF’s interclub competitions grew audiences 35% in Sub-Saharan Africa and over 40% across MENA in a single season. Every free-to-air window that widens audience raises the value of the sponsorship inventory sold in the same tender. Selling media and sponsorship together, as this tender does, lets CAF price that relationship directly and treat free-to-air placement as an asset in the sponsorship case.
Every free-to-air window that widens audience raises the value of the sponsorship inventory sold in the same tender.
The Same Opportunity at League Level
The NPFL Model
Domestic leagues can move faster on this than CAF can, and one is already testing it. The NPFL signed a five-year commercial and data agreement in November 2025 with Inview Technologies and AS Production Hub as broadcast and production partners, and Round-Up Technologies handling data, including an 800 million upfront activation payment ₦ and 60% of revenue passing to clubs. Reported totals vary across outlets, so treat the headline number with care, but the structure matters. Matches moved to free-to-air television and digital platforms, and the league opened a data monetisation line alongside the broadcast line.
Reaching the Audience Directly
That structure responds to a real constraint. SuperSport’s earlier exit from the NPFL was attributed to production costs driven by stadium infrastructure gaps, alongside forex problems, the same currency mechanism operating at league level. The league’s answer was to reach the audience directly and sell more than one kind of inventory against it.
Three Commercial Moves for Domestic Leagues
Club operators and league administrators can move in several directions, but for this piece, there are three moves worth considering over others. Approach national carriers, since a domestic league can negotiate with a telco in a way that a continental satellite operator makes difficult. Build the sponsorship proposition on free-to-air placement, where audience size drives the price. Sell data and digital rights as separate inventory to buyers who price against different revenue than a subscription base.
Building Packages the New Buyers Can Pay For
The African Nations League launches in 2029, inside the window CAF’s tender covers. The process reform is done, the reach is proven, and sponsors have already shown what this audience is worth. The work in front of the market now is building packages the new buyers can pay for.