SuperSport is set to broadcast the Africa Cup of Nations Pamoja 2027 qualifiers and finals across Sub-Saharan Africa under an agreement involving CANAL+ and CAF, potentially resolving the region’s closely watched media-rights process.
The announcement covers the AFCON Pamoja 2027 qualifiers, already underway, as well as the finals tournament, scheduled for 19 June to 17 July 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The finals will feature 24 teams emerging from a qualifying competition involving 48 nations across 12 groups.
Under the reported arrangement, SuperSport will carry the competition across Sub-Saharan Africa, while CANAL+ will provide French-language coverage in more than 20 francophone territories. The reported package also indicates that the finals will be available through entry-level offerings rather than being restricted to premium packages.
The development comes against the backdrop of CAF’s formal tender for the 2027 Sub-Saharan media rights. Launched in August, the tender covered both free-to-air and pay-TV rights in English, Swahili, Portuguese, isiZulu, Wolof, Yoruba and other local languages, while French-language pay-TV rights were excluded. The deadline for submissions was 14 September.
The latest announcement, however, does not publicly disclose the financial value of the arrangement, the precise allocation between pay-TV and free-to-air rights, exclusivity provisions or details of competing bids.
That leaves some uncertainty over whether the CANAL+/SuperSport announcement represents the formal conclusion of the Sub-Saharan tender or an arrangement covering rights already secured for the ongoing qualifying campaign. This distinction is particularly relevant because CAF had already confirmed CANAL+ as the French-language broadcaster for qualifiers in more than 30 countries, while several free-to-air broadcasters were carrying selected matches.
The development also follows reports that SuperSport faced competition for the 2027 rights, with the Sunday Times reporting on 20 September that at least 15 companies had expressed interest and that SuperSport was not among the leading candidates at that stage.
With SuperSport now publicly linked to both the qualifiers and finals, the announcement marks a significant development in the African sports broadcasting market, although the full commercial and rights structure remains to be clarified.
