The IMG agency has begun selling centralised international broadcast rights to the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup following a recent agreement struck with world football governing body Fifa.
The agreement, which was announced on September 24, 2021, took effect from the start of the Round 2 matches on September 1 after Fifa and IMG signed off an agreement late last month.
IMG has acquired rights to a total of 120 matches featuring all 40 competing African nations during the Round 2 stage and then all 10 home and away play-off matches that will take place next March, leading to five African sides qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar.
The deal excludes sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. It also excludes the Baltic and Nordic nations, along with Poland, after rights in those territories were acquired by Nordic Entertainment (Nent) Group for its Viaplay streaming service.
Fifa first went to market with the rights in November 2019 as it issued an invitation to tender after reaching an agreement with all 54 Caf member associations to represent their rights centrally.
SportBusiness understands that Fifa initially offered the rights in the sub-Saharan Africa region but under the proviso that the agency acquiring the rights also take on the production responsibilities. IMG bid during the tender phase but was not looking to take on the host broadcast remit and therefore focused its attention in negotiations with Fifa on the international rights.
Nent acquired rights to all 130 Caf qualifying matches from Round 2 onwards after agreeing a deal directly with Fifa. The agreement was announced in December last year.
In selling the international rights, IMG is offering to broadcasters the two top-pick matches per matchday, along with highlights. However, broadcasters are also able to take all matches in any deal with IMG.
Centralised rights to Caf qualifiers to the 2014 and 2018 World Cups were sold by Caf to agencies Sportfive and B4 Capital.
Michael Mellor, IMG’s senior vice-president, head of football, said: “This is an extremely exciting package of matches with the growing success of African nations and at major tournaments making the World Cup qualifiers a very attractive proposition for broadcasters around the globe. A number of top African players ply their trade in the top leagues and will be household names to viewers around the world.”
The deal adds to IMG’s existing portfolio of international rights to World Cup qualifiers in the Concacaf region. The agency holds rights deals with various national associations in the North, Central America and Caribbean region, although not Mexico. Previously, IMG sold international rights to Uefa-zone qualifiers on behalf of a handful of national associations before the rights were centralised by Uefa (and sold by CAA Eleven).
The agreement also helps IMG to build a relationship with Fifa as it looks to secure future media rights business with the international body.
Broadcaster take-up
European broadcasters to have acquired the rights to the Caf qualifiers in deals with IMG include L’Équipe in France and Sport TV in Portugal. Disney’s ESPN+ secured the US rights in a deal announced at the start of the month.
We also understand that IMG has agreed deals in the Balkans with Sportklub, in German-speaking countries with Sportdigital Fussball and in the Netherlands with ESPN. In the APAC region, rights have been sold in Australia (SBS), Hong Kong (TVB), Malaysia (Astro), Thailand (Mono) and Vietnam (Vieon).
Meanwhile, OTT and pay-television platform Mola TV has not only acquired the Caf qualifier rights in its native Indonesia, but also Singapore, Italy and the UK. Mola TV is expanding into new territories and recently agreed a multi-territory deal for Croatian football rights covering Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Italy.
Under the broader moves by Mola to expand beyond its home market, non-exclusive rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship have also been secured by the broadcaster in Malaysia and Singapore.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the African Union of Broadcasting, the body of free-to-air broadcasters, recently tied up a deal with Fifa for rights to the qualifying matches in 17 countries.
The AUB secured the rights in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, and Zambia.
The Integral sports marketing agency acquired exclusive rights to broadcast Nigeria’s World Cup qualifiers. Integral is being aided by New York and Lagos-based company Hey What’s On in producing the broadcasts of the World Cup qualifiers.
