Confederation of African Football and European Commission sign partnership agreement

The Confederation of African Football announced on Sunday that it concluded a partnership agreement with the European Commission for several upcoming football tournaments in Africa.

The European Union will sponsor the African Schools Football Championship, as well as the 2025 and the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and this year’s women’s equivalent. 

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations will take place in July 2025 in Morocco, followed by the men’s event in December. Both tournaments have French oil giant TotalEnergies as their title sponsor.

The agreement was signed by European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jozef Síkela and CAF president Patrice Motsepe in Cairo, Egypt. 

"Our Partnership reflects the mutual commitment of CAF and the European Commission to the development and grow African Schools and Youth Football, and the expansion of the cultural, trade and investment relationships between our two continents", Motsepe said in a statement.

"By partnering with CAF, we’re making Europe’s partnership with Africa more visible, more tangible, and more relevant - especially for young people", Síkela said.

"A key element of this agreement is the support to the CAF African Schools Championship, which will reach up to 33,000 schools across Africa."

This new agreement is part of the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package. Through this initiative, the EU has pledged to invest at least €150 billion in Africa by 2027.  Other areas of European investment in Africa include energy transition and healthcare.  

The signature of this partneship also takes place as the two continents celebrates the 25th anniversary of the first EU-African Union (AU) summit that took place in Cairo in 2000.