The governing Confederation of African Football (CAF) soccer body has begun a tender process to find a commercial partner agency for the next eight-year rights cycle.
CAF launched an invitation to tender (ITT) process yesterday, covering global commercial rights – broadcast, other media, and sponsorship – for the next three editions of the organization's premier Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) men's national teams tournament.
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The agency will hold rights across the 2028, 2032, and 2036 AFCONs – none of these tournaments, as yet, have had host nations allocated. This will be the first cycle during which AFCONs are held quadrennially as opposed to biennially.
The deadline for the submission of bids is 17:00 Cairo time on August 24, and interested parties should contact mediasales@cafonline.com and legalaffairs@cafonline.com.
CAF has said it is looking for a partner "best placed to achieve its objectives of providing maximum exposure for the tournament and offering fans a high-quality viewing experience."
The successful bidder will work with CAF on the sale of these media rights and sponsorship assets to ensure long-term commercial growth for African soccer.
The heavyweight IMG agency was CAF's sponsorship and international media rights agency for the last – much shorter – commercial cycle.
Egypt-based CAF is aiming to build on the success of the 2025 AFCON, held in Morocco, which brought a 95% growth in commercial revenue from the previous edition.
The previous AFCON – which ran across December 2025 and January of this year – also brought in a global TV audience of over 3.2 billion in total.
The next edition of the soccer tournament is scheduled to take place next June and July, across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In March, CAF president Patrice Motsepe announced that, in future, each AFCON will feature 28 teams instead of 24 (as has been the case since an expansion from 16 in 2019).
However, Motsepe did not explain how the format would work with four extra teams, nor when it would be implemented.
CAF announced last December that AFCON, currently held every two years, will become a quadrennial affair after the 2027 edition.
