THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) plans to uplift the quality of TV production and broadcast standards of the game on the continent through its new CAF Broadcast Academy and the TV Director’s Programme initiative.
The project, which launched in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday, falls in line with CAF president Patrice Motsepe’s vision of expanding African football’s footprint by becoming a competitive and attractive brand globally.
Broadcasting is key in delivering a world-class product that is commercially strong, Motsepe says.
CAF’s flagship tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations, in 2024 attracted an audience of over 1.4 billion TV viewers and 2.2 billion digital viewers.
This makes it one of the top four global football events.
The CAF Broadcast Academy will focus on upskilling TV directors, camera operators, producers, broadcast venue managers, broadcast liaison officers, commentators and many other role-players key in delivering the product over a two-year period.
The end goal is to ensure African football reaches world-class standards in all 54 member associations of CAF.
“The CAF Broadcast Academy is our practical step to resolve some of the challenges we face in relation to quality of production,” says CAF general secretary Véron Mosengo-Omba.
“CAF president Patrice Motsepe has given us a mandate to make African football among the best in the world, and the quality of the TV product is at the centre of achieving this.
“I’m glad we have finally kicked off this programme as it will benefit all the member associations of CAF and also market African football globally,” Mosengo-Omba explained.
The inaugural workshop in Johannesburg was held for English-speaking countries, with 18 TV directors from 16 countries gathered in Johannesburg at SuperSport studios.
In April, CAF will host another workshop for French-speaking countries.
The TV directors’ workshop is being facilitated by HBS/Fifa World Cup director Jamie Oakfield.
“We, as CAF, must play an active role in creating solutions to some of our challenges,” CAF’s head of TV and communications Luxolo September says.
“The CAF broadcast academy is not only about today, but about the future. The broadcast product in Africa will not be the same again.
“We are partnering with CAF’s TV partners like beIN Sport, Canal+, SuperSport and many others to make this dream a reality. We thank HBS for designing the programme.” – Adapted from Cafonline.com
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