Azam Media lands CAF interclub competitions broadcast rights

By Peter Ochieng

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced new media rights and TV agreements for the 2024/25 CAF Interclub Competitions.

This is after a successful bidding process for the pay TV (English) and Free to Air (all languages) in the Sub-Saharan African territory.

The rights include African football’s premium Club competitions: TotalEnergies CAF Champions League 2024/25, TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup 2024/25, CAF Women’s Champions League 2024 and TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup 2025.

According to the CAF website, the continental football body reached agreements with SuperSport International for the PayTV rights (in English) and South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and Azam Media for the Free to Air (FTA) rights.

CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “The exponential growth and global competitiveness of football in Africa has resulted in substantial interest from major African and international broadcasters in African Football.”

“SuperSport, SABC and Azam Media have been participating competitively in the CAF Media Rights bids. CAF welcomes them all as partners, joining a number of CAF’s Media rights holders. We are committed to ensuring that CAF’s competitions including its broadcast products are world class.”

The TV audiences during the 2023/24 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League grew by over 25% in North Africa, while East Africa and Southern Africa saw growth of over 40% in both TV audiences and digital engagement.

Azam TV, headquartered in Tanzania, brings live broadcast of various football leagues and tournaments in East Africa, among them the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League.

In August, 2023, FKF unveiled a partnership with Azam TV to broadcast the top tier Premier League (FKFPL) in a seven-year deal, worth an initial one million dollars (Approximately Sh145.5mn).

According to both the Federation and Azam, the contract will be on an initial five-year deal, renewable by a further two.

“This is the biggest step in Kenyan football. We are delighted to finally unveil this. It has been a tough and lengthy negotiation and today, we are here unveiling everything,” said FKF boss Nick Mwendwa, then.

Mwendwa however did not disclose how much each club would earn from the deal.