FIFA World Cup 2022 African qualifiers awarded to IMG

IMG and FIFA have announced an agreement to market worldwide media rights for the African Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

As part of the agreement, IMG has been awarded a total of 130 matches featuring 40 countries from across the African continent. This includes 120 Round 2 matches and 10 home and away play-off games that will see five African teams qualify for the tournament, which takes place from 21 November-18 December 2022.

Michael Mellor, SVP, head of football, IMG, said: “This is an extremely exciting package of matches with the growing success of African nations and at major tournaments making the World Cup qualifiers a very attractive proposition for broadcasters around the globe. A number of top African players ply their trade in the top leagues and will be household names to viewers around the world.”

Forty nations from across Africa have been drawn in ten groups of four for Round 2 of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualification in Africa. The top country from each group will then play a two-leg play-off match in March 2022 with the winners qualifying for the finals in Qatar.

IMG’s deal excludes MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.