CAF: $50m compensation for former company Lagardère Sports after cancellation of contract for 2019

The Confederation of African Football has paid $50m (€46m) - in two instalments - to the former Lagardère marketing company as part of an out-of-court settlement following the cancellation in 2019 of a contract worth $1bn (€893m as at 31/12/2019), confirmed Patrice Motsepe, president of CAF, at the 46^th ordinary assembly held in Addis Ababa (ETH) on 22/10/2024.

The French company had filed a lawsuit following the cancellation of this contract. According to Patrice Motsepe, the $50m was paid "in the best interests of the organisation to settle an old dispute inherited from a contract signed many years ago."

Lagardère Sports, which has been linked to CAF since 1993, acquired the exclusive management of the media and marketing rights to the main African football competitions for 12 seasons (2017-2028) on 12/06/2015.

But on 05/11/2019 CAF suddenly announced that it was terminating the contract "unilaterally and with immediate effect". The reason: it contravened the rules of Egyptian competition law (to which the CAF, whose headquarters are in Cairo, EGY, is subject).

The decision was…