Africa: CAF-Lagardère agreement deemed illegal for failure to comply with Egyptian competition rules

"In 2017, the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) found that the Agreement breached Egyptian competition rules because Lagardère was appointed as CAF's exclusive agent for the marketing and media rights for an uninterrupted 20 year period without any open tender. By the same decision, ECA declared the agreement null and void and imposed a number of remedies on CAF. Those remedies included the obligation to immediately terminate the agreement and suspend its effects within the Egyptian market," said the Confederation of African Football (based in Cairo, Egypt), in response to a reaction from the marketing agency Lagardère Sport (see below), on 08/11/2019.

"CAF had no choice but to terminate the agreement. CAF has repeatedly made it clear to Lagardère, including at a meeting this week, that its termination of the agreement was not an 'unilateral decision' as was wrongly presented in Lagardère's recent press release. Termination of the agreement is the legal consequence of the decision of ECA, the judgments of Egyptian courts and the recommendations and imminent decision of the CCC…