Marketing & Media Solutions (MMS) and PC Plus Group Holding SA (PC Plus Group) have partnered to manage and market the free-to-air television rights for the African Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ in 42 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the matches of each territory's respective national team.
MMS is a sports marketing agency based in Switzerland, and PC Plus Group, based in Abidjan, is a multi-sector company operating in construction, public works, agriculture, biotechnology, new technologies, sports, and culture.
The new format for the African Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ will feature a total of 270 matches, spread out between November 2023 and October 2025.
The teams are divided into nine groups of six teams, each playing home and away matches against all the other teams in their group, meaning 10 matches for each team. The top nine teams in the groups will qualify directly for the 2026 FIFA World Cup™, while the four best runners-up will compete in a play-off tournament, at the end of which a single CAF representative will advance to the FIFA intercontinental play-off tournament, which will determine the final qualifying spot for the 2026 FIFA World Cup™.
It is regrettable that FIFA's decision has come so late: the first day of these qualifiers will be played on November 13!…
This leaves rights holders very little time to promote them to channels (three weeks to sign contracts with 42 different national channels) and very little perspective for the channels that will purchase them, particularly for the first day, which will be impossible to promote effectively to both advertisers and the general public.