FIFA Advertises Broadcast Rights For World Cup 2022 CAF Qualifiers
World football governing body Fifa has launched an invitation to tender process for the centralised broadcast rights of the Confederation of African Football’s qualifying competition for the 2022 World Cup.
Fifa secured a mandate from the 54 African nations to sell their rights centrally, promising to double the revenue.
The media rights cover television, internet, mobile and radio transmissions.
The tender process launched today (Monday), with the bid submission deadline set at 2pm (GMT) on December 16. A question-and-answer period runs from today (Monday) until December 13.
“Fifa has opened an invitation to tender (ITT) for the centralised media rights to all matches in the second round of qualifying, as well as the third-round play-offs, which will determine the final five teams from Africa that will play at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. ”
“Fifa aims to make more matches available to global viewing audiences than ever before, devoting extra attention to production quality, with commentary available in French and English, a unique brand identity, and a comprehensive on-screen graphics package for the centralised feeds.”
“In particular, this tender process will allow Fifa to select the media companies that are best-placed to secure the required transmission commitments and to achieve the objectives of reaching the widest possible audience and providing a high-quality viewing experience for fans.” Fifa said in a statement on Monday on their official website.
In September, Fifa announced that it would live stream several of the first round of Caf qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in what it called a “landmark” initiative.
In November Caf also cancelled their $1-billion coverage contract with French broadcast company Lagardere for the Caf Champions League, Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and finals tournaments, and junior tournaments such as the current Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
The cancellation of the Lagardere contract has led to South African pay-channel SuperSport blacking out its coverage of all Caf games, including the U-23 Afcon and 2021 Nations Cup qualifiers, encompassing Bafana Bafana’s away matches.
By Gerald Dandah
