African national football to take centre stage on your World of Champions this month!
DStv’s SuperSport channels are gearing up for one of the highlight of the year, providing saturation coverage of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Liz Dziva, publicity and public relations manager of MultiChoice Zimbabwe, said SuperSport would broadcast all 52 matches from host country Egypt between launch date Friday June 21 and the final on Friday July 19.
“As the northern hemisphere season comes to an end, there need be no fears of a football drought with the end of the 2018/19 European football season,” she said.
“The focus now moves to Africa, with all coverage of Afcon 2019 live and in HD on DStv. The SuperSport coverage will also feature pre-event and post-event expert opinion and insight from top commentators and veterans of the continental game.”
Afcon 2019 will be available on the DStv Family package and all higher bouquets, with selected games available to viewers of DStv Access. SuperSport viewers can catch the all the games on SS7, with selected matches on SS10 and SS8.
“Football is big everywhere, no less across Africa and we are thrilled to be able to continue satisfying football appetites with one of the most anticipated tournaments of the year, coming as it does against backgrounds of huge coverage of other international sporting fests such as the ICC Cricket World Cup and the coming IRB Rugby World Cup,” said Ms Dziva.
Afcon 2019 is the 32nd hosting of the continent’s ultimate football tournament, being held across six venues in Egypt: Cairo International Stadium; 30 June Stadium, Cairo; Al Salaam Stadium, Cairo; Alexandria Stadium; Suez Stadium; and Ismailia Stadium. It is also the first Afcon to feature a new 24-team format, with six groups of four teams each for the round-robin phase of the competition. The top two teams from each group, along with the four best third-placed teams, will advance into the last 16 and the tournament proceeds on a knockout basis from then on.
Cameroon are the defending champions, having triumphed at the last edition in Gabon in early 2017. The Indomitable Lions will be looking to retain their crown but face a tough challenge from the likes of Egypt (who have home advantage and have won a record seven titles), Nigeria (who are returning to the finals for the first time since winning the 2013 edition), Morocco (who boast a double Afcon-winning coach in Herve Renard) and other African heavyweights such as Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tunisia, Algeria and the current top-ranked side Senegal.
The tournament opens on Friday June 21 with the first Group A match between Egypt and Zimbabwe at the Cairo International Stadium, which will also host the final on July 19.
Ahead of the tournament kick-off, MultiChoice is helping ensure higher expectations and greater knowledge by already opening DStv Access to additional channels up to June 20, while DStv Compact Plus customers will enjoy Archive content, previous finals, best qualifiers, documentaries and profile pieces.