Eto'o, Drogba and Adebayor help African football to net almost $140m in TV rights

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) financial statements show that the showcase competitions will make more than double the revenue they did five years ago.

Samuel Eto'o

This time last year, the CAF announced an operating profit of just under $1m. Incredibly, this figure has soared to $15.53m – surely the equivalent of a double hat-trick in footballing terms.

Sportfive interest

Sports agency Sportfive, part of Lagardere Sports, has promised at least $137.45m for the exclusive rights to six major African football competitions.

Last year’s African Nations Cup finals in Angola grossed $46.8m revenue in media rights and the next three tournaments will earn the same up until the 2015 finals in Morocco.

This is a massive jump from years up until 2008, when CAF earned $5.5m every two years for Nations Cup rights.

The two annual club competitions, the African Champions League and the African Confederation Cup will earn CAF $71.4m in the next seven years.

The figures show a staggering increase from previous years, when rights cost just $5m annually and prior to 1997 did not generate any money whatsoever.

Why?

While the African game is experiencing increased publicity, the growing number of world-class African players is said to be a big reason for increased marketability.

The continent is being represented in the major European leagues throgh stars such as African Player of the Year Samuel Eto'o, Mohamed Sissoko and Kevin-Prince Boateng - who all play in the Italian Serie A for Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan respectively.

Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor is enjoying a loan spell in La Liga with Real Madrid.

The English Premier League boasts a host of African players, with Chelsea’s Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Salomon Kalou and Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan and loanee Sulley Muntari among them.

Cameroonian Alex Song and Ivorian Emmanuel Eboue play for Arsenal and his compatriots, brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure play for Manchester City.

The latter however is currently suspended for testing positive on a drugs test.

Brand new competition

The African Nations Championship is also being introduced – a new bi-annual tournament for national teams made up players plying their trade locally.

Even the African Youth Championships have attracted big investment, with Sportfive shelling out $2.25m for the rights to the under-20 and under-17 tournaments until 2016.

Teams reaching the Nations Cup finals are also due to hut the jackpot, sharing a prize of $10m from next year, according to the CAF.

It also stated CAF are negotiating to sell the television rights for the Nations Cup qualifiers to guarantee each member association more than $150,000 each.