Today January 17, 2015, the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Equatorial Guinea 2015 will kick off in Malabo. The competition will take place over a three-week period in the cities of Bata, Malabo, Mongomo and Ebebiyín. This is familiar territory for the major African football event, since the country had already hosted the tournament with Gabon in 2012.
Orange (http://www.orange.com) is once again the title sponsor of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, with participation by the teams of Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Senegal and Tunisia, where the Group is established. Throughout the competition, the Orange brand will be visible in the stadiums of Equatorial Guinea and in the African countries in which the Group is present, with exclusive content for mobile phones and on the Web via Orange Football Club and the StarAfrica portal.
Bringing The Stadiums To Life
In the stadiums, Orange has created a special trophy designed to illustrate the unique link between the fans and the players themselves. The “Man of the Match” and the “Fan of the Match” trophies are built from a single, interlocking design. During each match, the most passionate supporters are invited to take part in the “Fan of the Match” photo competition. The winning supporter is then given the privilege to hand-over the “Man of the Match” award to the best player during a press conference following the match. Throughout the competition, 32 lucky fans will win the trophy and get the chance to immortalize the moment with one of Africa’s greatest football stars.
Bringing The Match-Spirit Into Towns And Cities Across Africa
Numerous events and festivities will be organised held in African countries in which Orange is present to allow fans to experience the tournament live and share their passion for football. The “Orange Villages” will be set-up in major cities across Africa, with giant-screen broadcasts of key matches as well as the organisation of football-based video game competitions and photo contests
Bringing Football Into The Digital World
Inspired by the success of initiatives in previous editions of the Orange AFCON, the Group has sought to go even further this year in the range of digital services on offer:
Orange Football Club is a platform for fans of African, European and international football where the latest live news is available for free on the web, mobile phones and on social networks. Orange Football Club has more than 500,000 Facebook fans and the mobile app has been downloaded 100,000 times. More information is available at http://www.footballclub.orange.com
online contests have also been set-up, with prizes to be won each week until the competition begins:
– Golden Ticket: an online treasure hunt to find virtual tickets hidden in a series of on-screen pictures with prizes including a trip to Equatorial Guinea to watch a match, Samsung tablets and several other prizes;
– Best Supporter: a contest in which fans can upload photos of their favorite moments. 34,000 people have already voted for their favourite photo among the 800 photos uploaded.
For more information, go to the fan page at http://www.facebook.com/OrangeFootballClub
exclusive content is also available on http://www.StarAfrica.com, Orange’s entertainment portal in Africa, which is available in English, French and Arabic and attracts 1.5 million unique visitors each month. A team of sports journalists will be dispatched to report on the events live, produce video broadcasts and give live-text commentary on all of the competition’s matches. The Orange AFCON Equatorial Guinea 2015 newswire will also be available on Twitter @StarAfrica and on Facebook.
The Orange Africa Cup of Nations is a major and hugely successful event in Africa. It is one of the only events on the continent to go beyond the borders of the countries taking part. For Orange, it is an opportunity to forge strong bonds with its customers, its employees and fans of football across the continent to experience and share their passion for the sport.
Orange’s commitment to football goes far beyond this sponsorship deal. The Group has actively supported the national football teams of Botswana, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Niger and Senegal for many years. This involvement in African football took on a new dimension with the signature of the partnership between Orange and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in 2009, which made the Group the principal sponsor of the six major CAF competitions until 2016.
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