The year-long pact will see TikTok support the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations tournament, which kicks off on 9th January in Cameroon. The deal also covers this years’ CAF Champions League and CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
TikTok will serve up pre and post-match content, plus highlights, from the tournaments, as well as soccer-related challenges and the chance for fans to engage with their favourite African players.
In addition, TikTok is promising further ways for supporters to engage with African soccer, including through in-app activations, a special hub for tournaments, as well as unique features and filters.
The official CAF TikTok account currently has over 1.6 million followers.
“We are truly delighted to have TikTok come on board as an official sponsor. Football content in Africa is in high demand and together with TikTok we are able to create and encourage the online community to engage in and create the type of content that will take both brands to new markets,” said Veron Mosengo-Omba, CAF general secretary.
“To us, this is not just about being a football federation but about continuing to be the single-biggest football entertainment producers in Africa, giving fans everywhere, world-class football experiences throughout the year.”
Boniswa Sidwaba, TikTok content operations manager for Africa, added: “As a proudly multicultural continent, Africa is beaming with creativity and talent. We see a lot of potential to harness and cultivate creative football expression on our platform.
“We certainly look forward to inspiring fans to celebrate and participate in content unique to TikTok, in the most African way possible, providing great entertainment for the community.”
Last year proved to be a busy one for ByteDance-owned TikTok on the soccer front, notably becoming a global sponsor of the rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament. It was the first time a digital entertainment platform had partnered with Uefa for the event.
That agreement was followed up in 2021 by various deals with the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns, Burnley FC Women, the DFL Supercup, Leeds Untied, as well as TNT Sports to broadcast the Uefa Champions League in Brazil and Mexico.
Away from soccer, last year also saw TikTok content integrated into live Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) broadcasts, adding to collaborations with electric SUV series Extreme E, cricket’s Pakistan Super League (PSL), Formula One team Aston Martin, and the British and Irish Lions rugby union side.
