September 1 – Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe (pictured) has hailed the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) as the most successful edition in the history of the competition.
At a news conference ahead of Sunday’s final between Morocco and Madagascar, Motsepe said: “I want to thank the presidents and the people of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda for staging what has been the most successful edition of Chan in the history of the competition.”
“I saw some of the fan parks for people who could not watch matches at the stadium and what has been absolutely clear is that the quality of African football has been improving and becoming world-class.”
Local organisers set up various fan zones after matches featuring Kenya’s Harambee Stars were played at reduced capacity because of crowd trouble and ticketing issues.
“The president of the Football Kenya Federation recently told me that since Chan started there has been an abnormal interest by the private sector to sponsor Kenyan football,” said Motsepe.
The African football boss once again reiterated that CAF is talking to the private sector to boost commercial revenue.
“We have been having engagements with the private sector over a $1 billion spread across eight years that is meant to ensure an increase in the financial resources to support African football,” he said.
It’s understood that IMG and Iris Sport Media are the two final bidders for eight-year marketing contract. In 2019, CAF scraped a $1 billion contract with sports marketing agency Lagardere, prompting a financial crisis at the Confederation when it found it couldn’t find a similar partner at the same value and then having to pay Lagardere $50 million in a settlement for breach of contract.
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