African football paid out $50-million settlement over marketing rights

ADDIS ABABA (Agencies): African football paid $50-million in an out of court settlement to former marketing company Lagardere Sports after abruptly cancelling their long-term agreement, the Confederation of African Football’s congress was told on Tuesday. The French company had sued for compensation after their 10-year, $1-billion agreement was abruptly cancelled in 2019. Lagardere Sports held the marketing, sponsorship and television rights to all CAF competitions for two decades, but CAF said it had to cancel the deal after two court rulings found that the agreement was made without proper tender. The company, now known as Lagardere Unlimited, sued for compensation before accepting a settlement, with CAF paying in two equal tranches, the last of which was paid at the end of last year, CAF’s finance committee vice chairman Andrew Kamanga said.

CAF president Patrice Motsepe told congress the organisation had made a $72-million profit from this year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast, significantly increased from a $4-million profit for the 2021 finals in Cameroon. CAF said it projected a revenue of almost $150 million for the 2024-2025 financial year, with expenses of $138.2 million. Some 30% of the budget would be spent on development programmes and contributions to CAF’s 54-member associations. A proposal was approved to give each association president an annual salary of $50,000 from the $400,000 annual contribution. Motsepe, expected to stand for re-election next year, said CAF wanted to increase African football’s revenue to $1-billion over the next eight years. “We are having a lot of discussions with potential sponsors,” he told the congress in the Ethiopian capital. He said CAF wanted to give $1-million annually to each member association from 2026. Motsepe also said CAF were reviewing rules on the treatment of visiting teams in the wake of Nigeria’s national team being held at a Libyan airport for a half day before last week’s scheduled Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. Nigeria refused to play the game after saying they had been held hostage by Libyan authorities who diverted their charter plane to an unused airfield and then left them waiting. “National teams must be treated with respect. If there are violations, we’ll take action,” said Motsepe.