December 21 – Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe has said that the dispute with the confederation’s commercial rights agency Lagardere, which has left a huge hole in the finances of the confederation, has been settled in an “amicable” way.
At a news conference in South Africa, the African supremo said: “We can confirm that the dispute between CAF and Lagardere has been amicably resolved, to the satisfaction of both parties.”
CAF also confirmed this in a written statement, adding that “the contents of the settlement agreement are confidential and CAF respects this confidentiality.”
“Many people want to know the details of that settlement agreement,” said Motsepe. “There is a confidentiality agreement commitment. We respect that confidentiality. It is safe to say that the dispute is resolved.”
CAF has had to pay a $50 million settlement to their former commercial agency partner and Nigerian official Amaju Pinnick told Insideworldfootball that CAF’s finances remain a ‘big mess’.
On the sidelines of the closing weekend of the World Cup, a number of African FA presidents also expressed their grave concern over the financial state of the regional body.
In November 2019, CAF cancelled a 10-year, $1 billion television and marketing rights deal with Lagardere Sports following judgments that the award of the contract breached competition rules. The cancellation however blew a major hole in CAF’s finances as the television deal was the confederation’s major stream of income.
A South African mining magnate and billionaire, Motsepe has always promised that he will get CAF financially back on track, but Motsepe and his organisation have always provided scant detail of how they would do that.
The fact that CAF required two installments to pay the Lagardere settlement providing an indication of how tight their finances are. Once again, Motsepe remained silent on the finances of the CAF Super League which is scheduled to get under way next year.
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