International sports-focused streaming service DAZN has reportedly bolstered its sports rights portfolio in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) after adding rights to CAF African soccer events.
According to German media, a new rights deal with the CAF governing body, DAZN will showcase the 2027 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the iconic national team tournament, as well as the 2026-27 CAF Champions League continental club competition.
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In doing so, DAZN has supplanted rival sports broadcaster Sportdigital, which has broadcast the 24-team tournament since 2021.
Before that, DAZN held the rights to the 2019 edition, but even during Sportdigital’s term, AFCON content was available on DAZN through a carriage agreement between the two.
Now, though, DAZN has boxed out its competitor, likely taking advantage of increasing rights fees to once again secure exclusive AFCON rights.
For the most recent edition of AFCON, which began in December 2025 and ran through January 2026, a total of 17 Germany-based players participated, and the number will be high again in 2027.
With the likes of Bayern Munich star Ismael Saibari (Morocco), Stuttgart’s Bilal el-Khannouss, and Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s Ibrahim Maza (Algeria) and Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) and more all likely to participate, giving German viewers a strong interest to see their teams’ players on a national stage.
With the 2027 AAFC Asian Cup taking place early in the year, across January and February, and the disparate time zone of the North American Concacaf Gold Cup taking it out of prime time hours in Europe, AFCON will be the sole major soccer property taking place in a Europe-centric time zone during the club soccer off-season, making it a valuable proposition for TV companies, hence DAZN’s interest.
In August, CAF officially began the hunt for a partner who will provide host broadcast services at next year's AFCON.
The selected entity will be in charge of producing the international TV feed from that tournament for CAF and that body's licensed broadcasters.
The 2027 edition of AFCON will be held between June 19 and July 17 across a trio of East African countries – Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Following the 2027 AFCON, all editions of the continental tournament will take place on a quadrennial basis – up until now, AFCON has been held once every two years.
In terms of other ongoing CAF tenders, late July saw the governing body begin the process of finding a commercial partner agency for the next eight-year rights cycle.
The selected agency will sell global commercial rights – covering broadcast, other media, and sponsorship – across the 2028, 2032, and 2036 editions of the AFCON.
Senegal claimed victory in the most recent AFCON final, although weeks later, beaten finalists Morocco were awarded the trophy after a controversy-packed game saw Senegal depart the field mid-match. Now both countries claim the AFCON win, a fact that will no doubt create viewership intrigue should the pair meet again in 2027.
For the past decade, the CAF Champions League has been dominated by teams from North Africa. Between 2017 and 2025, only Egypt’s Al Ahly (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024) and Pyramids (2025), Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca (2017, 2022), and Tunisia’s Esperance (2018, 2019) had won the trophy. In fact, of those nine finals, seven were all-North African affairs, illustrating the region’s dominance.
The winning streak was broken by South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns, who won their second CAF Champions League in 2026, meaning the 2026-27 edition is likely to be significantly competitive.
Currently, the 2026-27 CAF Champions League is in its second round of fixtures, which will take place between October 16 and 25, with victorious teams advancing to the 16-team group stage.
