The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has unilaterally cancelled its current biggest broadcast deal with Qatari media group beIN Sports.
In a statement, Caf said it was cancelling the 12-year contract, signed in 2017 and worth $415 million, with immediate effect. Caf accused beIN of a contractual breach and said it wanted to recover outstanding payments in the region of $80 million.
beIN Sports has responded by acknowledging “a number of issues that have affected the contractual relationship” and advising African football’s ruling body of its intention to sue unless “open discussions in good faith to resolve this issue”.
Caf’s decision to terminate its contract with beIN came months after the organization signed a five-year working agreement with the Saudi Arabia soccer federation.
The agreement between Caf and the Saudi federation is designed to promote “technical and football development at both club and national team levels” and to explore “commercial prospects.