October 28: CAF has appointed a distributor for its live TV coverage for AFCON 2027 in sub-Saharan Africa, with Media Experts Limited and MBS in charge of selling the rights.
There will be live coverage in the three hosts, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and in the biggest football markets, including Nigeria and South Africa. Ghana, DR Congo, Senegal, Angola and Ethiopia are also covered, with broadcasters in each country to be named in the coming months. The package includes the Futsal and Beach Soccer Championships in 2026 and the U20 and U17 tournaments in 2027.
AFCON Pamoja 2027 runs from June 19 to July 17, the first edition in East Africa since Ethiopia hosted in 1976.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe said almost two billion people watched the 2023 tournament in Ivory Coast and Morocco 2025 reached 3.6 billion, rising to six billion including digital viewing. CAF’s tender documents themselves place Morocco’s television audience at over 3.2 billion.
“Free-to-air TV is where Africa sees its biggest moments together, and AFCON is the biggest football moment we have,” said MEL CEO Kunle Falodun. “For brands and corporate sponsors, it’s an opportunity to stand alongside Africa’s most watched national team competition with the reach and confidence that only the outdoors can offer.”
MBS CEO Richard Dimosi Diasolwa said the distribution of AFCON 2023 showed “what happens when the tournament reaches every home: the streets are quiet, the living rooms are filled and entire nations watch together.”
The model splits the region between Canal+ on pay TV and the live agencies, giving CAF two sources of income without sacrificing reach. That matters when pay TV remains unaffordable for many. In Nigeria, 64% of fans watch live matches live, according to GeoPoll.
The challenge now is to place the rights on national broadcasters, many of which are state-owned and penniless. CAF’s figure of 500 million households is a target, not a measured audience. A separate tender for global rights for 2028, 2032 and 2036 is being run as CAF prepares to vote on whether to move AFCON to a four-year cycle or maintain its current two-year frequency.
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