Governing Bodies
Litigation looms as CAF cancels biggest TV broadcast deal
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) could well enter another costly legal process after unilaterally cancelling its current biggest broadcast deal with Qatari media group beIN.
On 1 September, Caf’s lawyers informed beIN Media Group, which owns the beIN Sports broadcasting division, it was cancelling the 12-year contract, signed in 2017 and worth $415m, with immediate effect.
Caf has accused beIN of a contractual breach and said it wants to recover outstanding payments in the region of $80m.
The Qatar-based media group has responded by acknowledging “a number of issues that have affected the contractual relationship” and advising African football’s ruling body of its intention to sue unless “open discussions in good faith [can] resolve this issue”.
“We are, of course, taking all necessary steps to robustly defend our legal position,” Yousef Al-Obaidly wrote to both Caf and its executive committee members on 2 September.
“I must make clear to you that beIN does not accept this termination and will take all necessary legal steps to challenge and overturn it.
“In addition, we have significant concerns that this major decision relating to Caf’s most valuable commercial contract may have been taken without the necessary scrutiny and approvals required under Caf’s internal regulations.”
In contrast to Caf statutes which require major financial decisions to be discussed by the body’s executive committee, BBC Sport Africa understands this did not happen – with Caf having been approached for comment.
BeIN hinted it may cite this unlawful process as one reason to legally contest the termination, as well as fundamentally arguing against the very nature of the decision itself.
It is the second time in four years that Caf has unilaterally cancelled a contract with its biggest financial partner.
In November 2019, the decision to scrap the largest contract in Caf history – a television and marketing rights deal, which guaranteed at least $1bn, signed with Lagardere Sports to cover 2017-2028 – cost the Cairo-based body some $50m, a sum which has been settled in the last year.
Now known as Sport5, Lagardere Sports had originally requested $90m in compensation.
A source close to the matter has told the BBC that beIN will be chasing a similar amount, albeit before damages are also claimed.
Both cancellations have come at a time when Fifa has wielded considerable control over Caf, which broke the Lagardere deal when Fifa Secretary General Fatma Samoura was overseeing the African body in her unique six-month role as a ‘General Delegate for Africa’.
More recently, Fifa has worked to not only engineer the election of Patrice Motsepe as Caf president in 2021 – saying the decision was for ‘African unity’ – but also to try to drum up funds for the continent through the launch of the looming African Football League.
Earlier this year, former Caf president Ahmad told the BBC that Fifa is controlling African football for ‘strategic reasons’.
-BBC
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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