A view of the Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pédro, Cote d’Ivoire (EMBASSY OF CHINA IN COTE D’IVOIRE)

Enthusiastic football fans filled the 20,000 seats of the Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pédro, Côte d’Ivoire on 9 September, as the newly built stadium hosted its first official match, between Côte d’Ivoire and Lesotho.  

Among the audience was Wang Neng, staff member of China Civil Engineering Construction Corp., the builder of the venue. As a football lover, he was thrilled to watch his idol Sébastien Haller playing in the game and even took a photo with him after the match. As deputy manager for the company’s Laurent Pokou Stadium project, he came with 30 of his colleagues to see how people would find the modern facility they had built. “Everybody likes the stadium. Haller said it is very good in an interview after the match,” Wang told Beijing Daily. 

Named in honour of Côte d’Ivoire’s iconic striker Laurent Pokou, the stadium is one of the six venues for the 34th edition of Africa Cup of Nations to be held in the country next year. A day before the football match, a ceremony was held to hand over the stadium to the government of Côte d’Ivoire, where Paulin Claude Danho, Côte d’Ivoire’s sports minister, said that the stadium is a key infrastructure in Côte d’Ivoire’s overall planning for national development, calling it a symbol of Côte d’Ivoire’s glorious football history and its enterprising sportsmanship. He specifically praised the work of Chinese builders, saying that they have done an efficient and excellent job in building the stadium.  

The stadium is just one recent example of how Chinese companies in Africa have been improving conditions for the development of sports in Africa. In terms of infrastructure, data show that since 1955, Chinese companies have built more than 80 large stadiums in Africa with a combined 3 million seats. As more Chinese companies, especially private ones, participate in the sports sector in Africa, China-Africa cooperation on sports has been further expanded. 

Ghana’s first 12-channel high-definition broadcast van (COURTESY) 

Improving audience accessibility 

For StarTimes, a leading localised media group and digital TV service provider in Africa, African people’s love for sports, especially football, is a need that must be catered to. Leveraging its diversified media platforms and technical strength, it has been bringing exciting sports events from around the world to its African audience. 

According to Li Bin, deputy director of StarTimes’ Centre for Sports Programmes, the company has entered into cooperation with a range of the world’s top football events. These include the Bundesliga of Germany, the Saudi Arabia Professional League, Brazilian Serie A and the Copa Libertadores of South America. It has also continued its partnership with the Portuguese Cup and the Portuguese League Cup.  

Apart from football events, the company also broadcasts to African audiences the FIBA Basketball World Cup, boxing and mixed martial arts events, electric car racing competitions, and events of the Badminton World Federation.  

Local sporting events in Africa are also a focus. It cooperated with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and broadcasted last year’s Africa Cup of Nations, the continent’s top football event. For the qualifiers for the 2023 edition of the game, it has broadcasted the matches on five channels and its mobile app. It also broadcasted the 2022 African Nations Championship, the 2021-2022 CAF Champions League, and the CAF Confederations Cup, among others. 

These programmes are well received among Africans. For example, the average audience rating for Bundesliga matches it broadcasts stands at 1.54 percent across Africa, and the rating can reach 3.5 percent in Kenya and Nigeria, according to Li. Key African events such as the African Nations Championship and the African Champions Cup can reach up to 5 percent in countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania and some other countries. 

Chinese smartphone maker Transsion is also an active player in delivering sports events to African audiences, but in a different way. With its content aggregation platform Scooper News, it provides the option for users to get timely news and information about the matches of interest in the form of text and pictures on their phones. This is helpful in places where watching videos on a phone is expensive due to high costs of data connection.  

StarTimes staff members provide technical support during a broadcast in Ghana (COURTESY) 

Empowering the sports sector 

To support the development of local sports in Africa, StarTimes has developed close links with football associations of specific African countries such as Ghana, Zambia, Madagascar and Uganda. “This has allowed the audience in some countries to see the events of their own national league on TV,” Li told ChinAfrica. 

To this end, the company has invested heavily in copyrights, network and equipment, among other areas. In Ghana, it set up the country’s only multi-purpose 12-channel broadcast van with the latest sports broadcasting system, which has brought the level of programming and broadcasting of the Ghana Premier League to international standards, allowing Ghanaian football fans to enjoy high-definition images unprecedented in the history of the country’s broadcast of events.  

It has established a professional commentary and hosting team to bring professional sports commentary and TV programmes to African audiences. To improve the viewing experience of the audience, it has been building satellite, microwave and Internet transmission platform in Africa, so that the users of different platforms can watch games more smoothly with higher-definition images. 

Li believes that broadcasting is essential for televising African sports events and popularising sports. It also represents a key part in African countries’ capability of holding large-scale sports events. 

In addition, the broadcasting of the events has provided a platform for African athletes to be known to the world. “The outstanding physical conditions have allowed African athletes to remain competitive in the world. Through broadcasting, we wish to help more African sports talents to emerge and shine on the world stage,” he said.