Caf hands sponsorship right to Orange

Caf has given the rights to Orange Ghana's participation in all continental matches for the next eight years will be decked out in the colours of French telecommunication giants Orange.

This was after the Confederation of Africa Football (Caf) signed an eight-year deal to sponsor African soccer's major competitions on Tuesday.

 
Orange will get naming rights to all the continent's top soccer events after signing a contract with the Cairo-based organisation.

 
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but CAF last year put a value of U$143 million for a comprehensive and long-term package of its competitions when it opened tenders for a new sponsor.

 
The deal includes the African Nations Cup, African Champions League, African Confederation Cup, the Super Cup, the African Nations Championship and the African Youth Championship.

 
This means the Black Stars participation in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations will be decked out in the colours of Orange.

 
The Black Satellites, the Black Starlets as well as all the other continental national team competitions will be affected by this new deal.

 
Ghanaian clubs such as champions Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko who are expected to participate in continental tournaments are also affected by this deal.

 
It is however not known if the Ghana Football Association or Ghanaian clubs involved in continental matches will benefit from the deal.

 
Previous sponsors of the Nations Cup include the South African mobile operator MTN, Nokia and Coca-Cola.