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Egypt: Competition Commission investigates football monopoly claims

By  |  February 27, 2017

The COMESA Competition Commission opened an investigation into the claims of monopoly practices allegedly carried out by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) with regards to the marketing of broadcast rights and the sponsorship of CAF tournaments.

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    The commission found that the CAF entered into an agreement with Lagardre Sports on 12 June 2015 for the exclusive commercialisation of marketing and media rights of main regional football competitions in Africa, including the Africa Cup of Nations, the African Nations Championship, and the African Champions League, for the period from 2017 to 2028. The CAF and Lagardre Sports are alleged to have previously entered into a similar commercialisation agreement for marketing and media rights of CAF tournaments from 2009 to 2016.

    Consecutively and cumulatively, the length of the alleged exclusive agreement is 20 years.

    Therefore, the COMESA Competition Commission believes that the aforementioned parties have committed monopoly practices that limit the freedom of competition in the COMESA joint market, prompting the commission to open an investigation into thee practices in accordance with Article 22 of the organisation’s competition regulations. The commission will, in accordance with the provisions of Part 3 of the regulations, conduct an inquiry into the agreements concluded between CAF and Lagardre Sports in order to determine whether the alleged conduct has as its objective or effect the prevention, restriction, or distortion of competitions in the common market or in a substantial part of it.

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