The Confederation of African Football has been referred for prosecution in Egypt over the sale of its worldwide television rights for the next 12 years at a price said to be worth $1bn. The president of Caf, Issa Hayatou, a former acting president of Fifa, does not appear to have been referred for prosecution personally; Caf said initial reports that he had were “false”, while insisting the confederation has committed no offence in relation to its TV deals.
The Egyptian Competition Authority made an announcement with a headline that it has referred “the president of the Caf”, Hayatou, to the country’s public prosecutor, but in its statement said only Caf itself has been referred for potential prosecution, allegedly for not putting its TV rights out to a competitive tender.
In June 2015 Caf agreed to sell the worldwide rights to the Africa Cup of Nations and Caf Champions League matches, from 2017 through to 2028, to the French media company Lagardère Sports, which had also bought the rights for the nine previous years. The $1bn that Lagardère will reportedly pay Caf for the worldwide rights to the prestige African football tournaments over 12 years is said to be a 10-fold increase on the value of the previous nine-year deal.
The ECA, announcing its referral of Caf for prosecution in the runup to the Africa Cup of Nations which starts in Gabon on 14 January, claimed Caf renewed its relationship with Lagardère without giving other broadcasters a fair opportunity to bid. It alleges Caf was “abusing its dominant position” by doing the deal, citing five separate sections of Egyptian competition law the ECA argues were breached.
The announcement by the authority in Egypt, where Caf has its headquarters, follows the failure last year of an Egyptian broadcaster, Presentation, to secure from Caf the right to broadcast matches. The company were reported to have tried to buy from Lagardère a sub-licence to broadcast matches in the Middle East and north-Africa region, but Lagardère sold those regional rights to the large, Qatari-owned broadcaster BeIn Sports. After that, Presentation reportedly made a bid directly to Caf, said to be $1.2bn, to buy the worldwide rights, but Caf had already sold these to Lagardère.
Announcing its action, the ECA said it has used legal powers to terminate Caf’s agreement with Lagardère in Egypt, and forced Caf to allow another broadcaster as well as BeIn to show this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
“These orders are legal obligations binding the Caf,” the ECA said, “and failure to fully comply may subject the entity to further private damages claims from injured parties in addition to heavy criminal fines.”
In a statement, Caf said that the letter it had received from the ECA made no mention of a recommended prosecution for Hayatou, Caf president since 1988 and acting Fifa president from October 2015, when Sepp Blatter was suspended, to Gianni Infantino’s election in February 2016. Caf also insisted its executive committee had followed correct procedures when agreeing the new deal and not breached any competition laws.
“This contract guarantees African football a substantial increase in revenues and substantial funding for the development of football on the continent,” it said. “Caf wishes to point out that the contract with Lagardère Sports does not contravene national or supranational legislation, as established by categorical legal opinions in this regard.”
Lagardère Sports also maintained that its 2017-28 contract with Caf was a fully legal renewal of its previous 2008-16 deal, and rejected the claims that it breaches Egyptian competition law. “Although Lagardère Sports is not the subject of the correspondence from the Egyptian competition authorities, any allegations that the agreement breaches local Egyptian competition laws are wholly unfounded and we have clear and categorical legal advice to that effect,” the statement said.
Hayatou, still Fifa’s senior vice-president on its ruling council and previously an executive committee member for more than 25 years from 1990, has not been accused by any legal authorities of involvement in the organisation’s recent corruption scandals. In 1995 he received cash from the rights company ISL, which paid millions of dollars in bribes to other senior Fifa officials.
In 2011, after that payment was reported, Hayatou was reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee, of which he was also a member, but Fifa took no action. Hayatou argued the money was for Caf’s 50th anniversary celebrations, not him personally.
