Pay-television sports broadcaster SuperSport, which operates in sub-Saharan Africa, has acquired rights for all friendly matches featuring the South Africa national football team.
The deal, which was agreed with the South African Football Association, the sport’s governing body in South Africa, will run for the duration of 2013.
Under the agreement that was announced today (Wednesday), SuperSport has exclusive South African pay-television rights and exclusive pay-television and free-to-air rights in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
The rights can also be exploited on internet and mobile platforms.
The deal includes rights for South Africa women’s national team games and age-group national team fixtures.
“This is an extremely significant year for the national team and we are proud that our subscribers will be able to support our national team through our exclusively live and high-definition broadcasts,” SuperSport chief executive Happy Ntshingila said.
Robin Petersen, the new chief executive of the national association’s development agency division, added: “We have wished for some time to have our product broadcast by SuperSport, which is a leading and world-class sports broadcaster. The revenue derived from this deal will assist the association with its development plans and afford substantial further exposure for our brand on the various platforms that SuperSport broadcasts on.”
The first game to be covered by the agreement will be the South Africa v Norway game on January 8.