Its now official the much talked about Lagardere deal signed with CAF in 2015 will run to its full conclusion this is after the new CAF office headed by President Ahmad Ahmad were told by their lawyers that the deal was water tight and could not be breached in anyway soka25east.com can exclusively report.
The broadcast deal signed in June 2015 extended a broadcasting deal with Lagardere Sports for its tournaments until 2028 in return for a financial guarantee of at least $1 billion.
Lagardere secured the media and marketing rights for all CAF tournaments, including the Cup of Nations.
Lagardere gave the Qatari-owned beIN Sports network rights for the Cup of Nations in the Middle East and North Africa, which includes Egypt.
Speaking to Soka25east.com exclusively in Rabat,Morocco a very senior CAF Official who sort anonymity was very clear on their fact finding mission about the deal
“When we came to office we sort the advice of top lawyers to see if the CAF/Lagardere deal could be either quashed or reduced but the outcome of their intensive investigations was that the deal was water tight done by brilliant lawyers appointed by Largadere with no loopholes at all therefore it cannot be breached in anyway”
“As CAF we have decided we will honour the deal but we will discuss improvement because of the new development as we will now have a 24 team Afcon instead of the 16 teams when the deal was signed meaning more money should be pumped in to cover for the deficit”the source told Soka25east.com at the Sofitel hotel in Rabat just after the CAF Congress.
A few months ago Egypt’s ECA laid charges against the Cairo-based CAF, Hayatou and El Amrani related to a broadcast rights deal with Lagardère Sports, which the company were allegedly given without a formal tender process as required by Egyptian law.
CAF then led by the ousted Hayatou accused the ECA of conducting a “trial by media”, claiming the referral of the case was made “following only a few days of investigations and without any communication or engagement whatsoever with the CAF”.
They labelled the charges as “unsubstantiated”, “groundless” and “without merit” and have vowed to “vigorously defend its position, its rights and reputation using all legal means available under international law”.
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According to the CAF then , the agreement “represented an enormous increase in the revenues guaranteed to CAF for its marketing and media rights, which secures significant and guaranteed funds for the benefit of African football over the next 12 years”.
“Further, with an unrivalled track record in delivering African football for over 22 years, Lagardère Sports is also an agency that can deliver and execute CAF’s vast programme of events – including the Africa Cup of Nations, the African Nations Championship and the African Champions League – such is the scale and complexity of the events across the whole of the African continent,” the CAF statement said.
In response to the accusations levelled against the governing body then under Issa Hayatou and their two most senior officials, CAF claimed the bid submitted by another company, Presentation Advertising Agency, came in September 2016 – 15 months after the contract with Lagardère Sports was signed.
