Independent information site about the Samsung fan campaign of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Not affiliated with Samsung or CAF. About this site
Samsung and African football
The 2012 campaign was not a one-off. Samsung had been an official sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations since 2008, and football was the visible end of a wider push into African markets that the company called “Built for Africa”. A short history with the numbers that were published at the time.
The sponsorship in stages
| Year | Tournament | Samsung’s role |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Ghana | First edition as official sponsor |
| 2010 | Angola | Four-year deal to 2012 announced on 18 January 2010; Samsung supplies electronics and telecoms equipment to CAF. The tournament is broadcast in 128 countries, cumulative audience 5.6 billion. |
| 2012 | Gabon–Equatorial Guinea | “Show your spirit with Samsung”: Football Fest, pop-up stadiums, Fair Play Award, getintothespirit.com. See the 2012 campaign. |
| 2013 | South Africa | “Our Passion Powers Africa”: Samsung Fan Zones in seven countries, a Facebook app and a football anthem produced with Don Jazzy. |
2013: from Football Fest to Fan Zones
For the 2013 edition in South Africa, Samsung scaled the Libreville format up. Fan Zones opened in South Africa, Angola, Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia, in 20 Samsung brand stores and eight shopping malls. Visitors could upload photos to Samsung Africa’s social pages, leave messages on a “smart spirit wall”, play football games on Smart TVs and try the current mobile line-up; mobile Fan Zones toured the areas around the match venues. The digital side moved from a stand-alone site to a Facebook app. Yung-Kook Lee, Samsung’s Vice President and Head of Global Sports Marketing, framed it as a long-term commitment: “We are committed to Africa and believe in the vast potential across the continent.”
“Built for Africa”
Sponsorship was the marketing layer of a product strategy. In early 2012 Samsung’s CEO for Africa, KK Park, described a range of products adapted to African infrastructure: SurgeSafe televisions with built-in surge protection, Triple Protector air conditioners, Duracool fridges and solar-powered internet schools for rural areas. Samsung had been operating in Africa since 1995 and planned to present the next generation of these products at its Africa Forum 2012 in Cape Town.
Alongside the products ran the “Hope for Children” programme with Samsung Electronics Engineering Academies, whose stated goal was 10,000 African engineers by 2015, mobile education projects with African universities and youth football camps in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The camps were the link back to the pitch: their participants presented the Fair Play Awards in 2012.
Football elsewhere in Samsung’s portfolio
In the same season, Samsung was shirt sponsor of Chelsea FC and partner of FC Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Olympiakos, five clubs and four initiatives across seven European countries by the company’s count in May 2012, when Chelsea and Bayern met in the Champions League final. The Chelsea partnership also fed into Africa: Samsung and the club ran youth development activities there.
Who sponsors the tournament today
Orange has been title sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations since the 2010 edition and has renewed the partnership several times since. The tournament is now branded TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations after the French energy group became title partner in 2016, and CAF has added technology sponsors such as TECNO for the 2025 and 2027 editions. Samsung’s name has not appeared on the sponsor list for years, which is why the 2012 material now reads as a snapshot of a specific period.
- Samsung signs 4-year deal to sponsor Africa Nations Cup, Telecompaper (18 January 2010)
- Samsung Newsroom Korea (7 February 2012, broadcast reach 2010, Africa since 1995)
- Samsung launches interactive fan engagement programs for Orange AFCON South Africa 2013, Modern Ghana (15 January 2013)
- Built for Africa, Forbes Africa (1 March 2012)
- Samsung celebrates commitment to footballing excellence, Samsung Global Newsroom (17 May 2012)
- Orange renews partnership with CAF, Orange Newsroom
- CAF and TECNO announce new sponsorship agreement, CAF
Last updated: September 2026