The West African Football Union has signed a 12-year rights partnership with international pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports that will also provide a long term injection of investment into infrastructure, training and development across its 16 member countries.
In what is termed a landmark deal, Fox Sports will become the home for West Zone A and West Zone B football, and will ensure that for the first time, every Zone West A Cup and Zone West B Cup match will be broadcast across Africa. The first tournaments are scheduled to take place in the summer of 2017 and will be broadcast exclusively by Fox Sports. The agreement is set to run from 2017 to 2028.
This partnership will expand the reach of WAFU across 24 countries, with the potential for matches and tournaments to be broadcast across the global Fox Sports network.
Alongside the revitalised bi-annual tournaments, Fox Sports along with West Zone A and West Zone B will create, produce and broadcast a range of regional quarterly events, focused on the expansion of the entire football ecosystem in West Africa.
Events for the U17, U20, U23 and core women’s teams are being planned, along with seminars and workshops on a range of subjects to increase skill development on and off the pitch. These include bespoke training for club doctors and personal finance management training for players with more sessions to be announced in the coming months.
Kwesi Nyantakyi, president of WAFU Zone B, said: “The global Fox Sports network with their broadcast expertise is the perfect partner to support our ambitions in taking West African football to the next level.”
WAFU is an association of nine (Zone A) and seven (Zone B) nations in West Africa. Zone A consists of Cape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Zone B is made up of Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.