SuperSport faces losing 2027 Africa Cup of Nations broadcast rights

SuperSport could miss out on the rights to broadcast the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, with two European companies understood to be leading the race for the tournament.

The competition, which will be staged jointly by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, is scheduled to take place from 19 June to 17 July 2027.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) is expected to announce the successful bid in the coming weeks. At least 15 companies have reportedly shown interest in securing the rights.

SuperSport is believed to be among the bidders, but is not considered one of the favourites. The Sunday Times was told the contest is currently between New World TV and Sport tv, which have both submitted substantial offers.

“Instead, the contest is between two European companies who have put in big offers,” an insider familiar with the process said.

“That is New World TV and Sport tv. They are in a neck-and-neck race to bag the rights of the crown jewel of Caf’s competition.”

SuperSport’s rights are now managed by Canal+ from its Paris headquarters, following the French company’s buyout of MultiChoice. The broadcaster is understood to have made an offer, but the bid was significantly below those submitted by its rivals.

“The value of media rights has gone up by over 150%,” the source said. “Caf sells Afcon rights per tournament. SuperSport paid around R105m to acquire rights for the last edition in Morocco, which is a small change when you consider that beIN Sports pays around R1.5bn per Afcon.”

The source added that the scale of the bids reflected growing international demand for African football. beIN Sports holds rights covering the Middle East, France and the South Pacific, while IMG has secured rights for Europe and South America. The two organisations share the North American rights.

“As things stand, SuperSport might lose Afcon rights as they’re up against [a] bidder offering almost two times what they are paying,” the source said. “The ball is in the SuperSport or Canal+ court. We have sent them notice that we don’t intend to renew at the previous rate. Free to air is now worth R2.2bn per Afcon, making Caf less reliant on SuperSport.”

For the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, SuperSport secured a sub-licence from New World TV (NWTV), the agent holding Caf’s exclusive media rights. That agreement allowed SuperSport to provide comprehensive coverage in English and Portuguese to millions of viewers across Africa.

Lux September, Caf’s head of TV and broadcasting (commercial), said the evaluation process was close to completion but declined to discuss individual bids.

“At this stage, I cannot comment on this process until it is finalised,” he said. “We’re in a very exciting stage. In the last three years, there has been a significant global interest in the Caf commercial rights. Currently, we’re in an exciting period of finalising several commercial agreements in relation to Afcon 2027.”

“The Caf president [Patrice Motsepe] is very hands-on, working together with the Caf commercial team and the secretariat in ensuring that we achieve the maximum financial gains on behalf of the 54 member associations.”

SuperSport was approached for comment but did not respond.