African football to earn USD 140 mln over seven years

Johannesburg: African football will earn almost USD 140 million in television and marketing revenue from its competitions over the seven years to 2017, according to Confederation of African Football financial statements.

The figures show a jump of more than 100 percent in revenue from what the previously cash-strapped organisation could attract for its showcase competitions some five years ago.All the money is from sports agency Sportfive, which has blanket rights to the major African competitions and is providing a minimum guarantee of USD 137.45 million for the rights to six different competitions. There will be USD 46.8 million for four successive editions of the African Nations Cup finals, starting with last year`s tournament in Angola to the 2015 finals in Morocco. Up to 2008, CAF earned USD 5.5 million every two years for Nations Cup rights. A seven-year deal for the rights to the African Champions League and the African Confederation Cup, the two annual club competitions, will earn CAF USD 71.4 million through to 2017. African football`s governing body was previously paid $5 million annually for the club competition rights although before 1997 they did not generate any money.CAF will earn a further USD 17 million until 2015 for the African Nations Championship, a new tournament for national sides held every two years made up of locally-based players. Sportfive, part of Lagardere Sports, has also paid USD 2.25 million for the rights until 2016 to the African Youth Championships at under-20 level and the African Under-17 Championship, both of which are held every two years. The CAF financial report for 2010, released to reporters on Thursday, showed a surplus of USD 15.53 million, a big jump on the operating profit of under USD 1 million announced one year ago. CAF said from next year the 16 teams reaching the Nations Cup finals would share a guaranteed prize pot of USD 10 million. The report also said CAF was negotiating to sell the television rights for the Nations Cup qualifiers to guarantee each member association more than USD 150,000 each. "This is very significant for the smaller associations who in the past were not able to sell any TV rights," said CAF finance committee chairman Suketu Patel. Patel added that the growing marketability of African football came from its increasing band of world-class players overseas and the attractive publicity around the African game. Bureau Report