The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the organisation paid $50 million in an out-of-court settlement to former marketing company Lagardere after the 2019 cancelation of a $1 billion contract. 

Speaking to the 46^th CAF annual congress in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today CAF president Patrice Motsepe said that the confederation had paid $50 million in two tranches to settle with Lagardere after the French company sued for compensation for the cancellation of it contract.

Motsepe described the payment as “in the best interests of the organisation”.

CAF had argued they had to cancel the contract because two court rulings found that the agreement was made without proper tender. Lagardere held the marketing, sponsorship and television rights to all CAF competitions for two decades.

Motsepe likened CAF to a ‘sick patient’ but he remained upbeat about the financial future of the African game, promising to increase African football’s revenue to $1 billion over the next eight years.

Once again, he referred to “a lot of discussions with potential sponsors”, though few have materialised as hard deals to date.

The South African has also often spoken of private partners in discussions surrounding the African Football League and fundraising for African football without offering any tangible details.

Motsepe also wants to give $1 million to each of the 54 member associations from 2026. Today, the member associations receive $400,000, a figure Motsepe called “insignificant”.

He used the same adjective for the $50,000 annual allowance that was approved for the continent’s FA presidents as part of a larger pay package for Africa’s top officials. That allowance will be taken from the $400,000 annual contribution to the member associations.