AFCON semi-finals, final to air on BBC Three

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 12 January 2022

The semi-finals and final of this year's Africa Cup of Nations are to be shown live on the soon-to-be-relaunched BBC Three TV channel.

Live football will be in the schedules for the first week of BBC Three's return as a linear TV schedule, it has been confirmed.

After six years as an online-only proposition, BBC Three will return to the airwaves on Tuesday, February 1.

The BBC has the rights to 10 games from this year's Africa Cup of Nations - currently being held in Cameroon - and will screen both semi-finals (February 2, February 3) and the final (February 6) live on BBC Three.

"We know how popular sport is with younger audiences and it's going to have a big part to play on BBC Three," said channel controller Fiona Campbell.

"AFCON is set to be an incredibly exciting tournament with some of the best players in the World on show and it's brilliant news that we will be showing the climax of the competition on free to air television."

The current bookies' favourites to win the tournament are 2019 finalists Senegal, whose squad includes the likes of Sadio Mane, Kalidou Koulibaly, Idrissa Gueye and Edouard Mendy.

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