Exclusive: Al-Botola Publishes CAF's Correspondence to All Football Federations, Including Morocco, Regarding Marketing Violations
Recent African club and national team competitions, particularly the Champions League and Africa Cup of Nations, have seen numerous marketing violations. This prompted CAF to send a circular to all national federations across the continent following a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee in Tanzania last Friday.
Togolese Cédric Agaï, CAF's Director of Legal Affairs, sent a letter to all member associations to disseminate instructions regarding commercial and marketing rights. The circular covers all clubs and federations, including any player, coach, medical staff, manager, official, media officer, representative, volunteer, or any other accredited individual appointed by the national federation.
As the exclusive owner of all commercial rights related to CAF competitions, and responsible for developing African football through prize money, development programs, annual subsidies, capacity building, and infrastructure investment, CAF enters into partnerships with sponsors, licensees, media rights holders, and other commercial affiliates.
These partnerships require the lawful use of trademarks, official apparel, and image rights.
Furthermore, no entity may challenge CAF, its sponsors, partners, or licensees for authorized uses carried out within the scope of CAF's rights.
To participate in any CAF competition, each professional football federation automatically grants CAF a worldwide, perpetual, and royalty-free license to use and sub-license the use of the name, logo, colors, symbols, emblems, images of team members, and any other identifying indicators of the federation or its national team, whether historical, current, or future.
