The Confederation of African Football (CAF) in collaboration with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of Ghana 2008 ACN and Sportfive, Official Marketing and Media Rights Partners on Tuesday held the 1st Official Sponsors Workshop for the tournament in Accra .

The event which was attended by representatives of the various sponsors of the 26th edition of the continent’s most prestigious soccer fiesta centered on marketing and media rights related issues geared towards hosting a successful tourney.

Mr Idriss Akki, Vice President of Sportfive in charge of Africa and Middle East (AME) said the objective of the workshop is to give commercial partners of the competition an opportunity to discuss certain areas including local marketing and television broadcast rights.

“It is also to introduce sponsors to each other to organize co-promotional activities and to update them on the preparations of the LOC towards the competition.”

The Sponsors of the competition, which spans January 20 – February 10, 2008 are MTN (title sponsors) supported by Standard Bank, Canon, LG, Western Union, Pepsi, Guinness and Simba.

Areas such as Venues, Stadia, Accreditation, Transportation, Media, Communication, Ticketing and Accommodation relating to the tournament were also discussed.

The Sportfive Vice-President mentioned the timing of the workshop as very significant as most sponsors joined the CAF team, on their eighth inspection to have a true hand of preparations for the event scheduled to roll in four months time.

Mr Akki expressed satisfaction in the turn out of the sponsors and as well commended the Government of Ghana and CAF for the support given to next year’s event tipped to be the best ever in the history of the competition.

Magnus Rex Danquah, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the LOC briefed the various sponsors on current state of preparations and some innovations in their quest host a successful event.

He also outlined packages for corporate institutions especially in the areas of ticketing, marketing, broadcast rights and accommodation.

After the workshop, Mr Garth Hewitt, Senior Manager, Sponsorships Group Marketing of MTN described it as fruitful and lauded the idea to deal with ambush marketing.

“They are good plans and we hope to have more details in the next workshop.”

The Representative of Western Union also said it was a great opportunity to improve on previous tournaments and shape positively the way forward to raise the high the standard of the game on the continent.

Mr Andisa Ntsubane, Head, Sport Sponsorships of Standard Bank Group also said the workshop has given sponsors an idea of their roles in ensuring the best-ever Nations Cup.

Also in attendance were CAF trio of Mr Slim Aloulou, Executive Committee Member and Mr Jean-Marie Webber, Marketing Consultant; Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, the host nation’s Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports (MoESS) .

The second in series of the Official Sponsors Workshop is scheduled for October 18, also in Accra ; twenty-four hours prior to the main draw of the Ghana 2008 Africa Cup of Nations slated for the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).

The opening ceremony is set for January 20 and ends on February 10, 2008.


Credit: CAF