More and more French sports organizations are seeking to intensify their internationalization strategy aimed at African markets. A movement that the agency Samba-Digital wishes to support thanks to its expertise developed on a dozen key markets of the continent. Lighting.

And if the African continent represented the main source of growth for French professional football? Many decision-makers in the sector are now seriously considering this hypothesis by placing certain key African markets at the heart of their internationalization strategy. “Developing the attractiveness of Ligue 1 Uber Eats internationally is one of the priorities of the LFP. Our goal is to increase the visibility of Ligue 1 Uber Eats among fans around the world and in particular in 4 priority territories which are the United States, Africa, the Middle East and China.” told us last June Yoann GodinDirector of International Development of the Professional Football League.

Words that have not remained without effect. During each season, through its Ligue 1 Touch programme, the Professional Football League organizes several events on the African continent, in particular during the highlights of the French championship. In February 2021, the LFP notably organized its first fan zone in Cameroon, welcoming more than 800 people to Douala to watch live on a giant screen the match Olympique de Marseille – Olympique Lyonnais. A similar operation was organized in Abidjan last April on the occasion of the Paris Saint-Germain – Olympique de Marseille summit.

The LFP is obviously not the only player in French football to take a close interest in the various African markets. Due to strong historical, cultural and sporting ties – many great African football internationals play or have played in the French league – several Ligue 1 clubs already bring together large fan communities in the Maghreb or even within the countries of French speaking Africa. Communities that clubs now want to animate more effectively, in particular to unlock their commercial potential in these markets.

“At Olympique de Marseille, we primarily target French-speaking Africa in our internationalization strategy. The club already enjoys a very good image in many African countries. Several great players from targeted areas have made the club happy in the past. Let us quote for example Didier Drogba or Mamadou Niang. Moreover, there is a geographical but also social and cultural proximity between Marseille and French-speaking Africa. It is therefore natural for OM to focus on this region in its internationalization strategy.” thus confirmed to us last May Laurent ColetteDirector of Operations of Olympique de Marseille.

Faced with this increased interest in African markets, the Samba Digital agency intends to support French professional football players in the deployment of their internationalization strategy in such territories. Already supporting the policy of international expansion of many European clubs in Latin America, the United States or Asia; Samba Digital has been able in recent years to bring together the network and skills necessary to help sports organizations develop their activities in several key markets in Africa.

“Talking about Africa as a single market makes no sense as the continent is vast and the territories diverse. But today we are able to support clubs in the main markets of the Maghreb and French-speaking Africa. In English-speaking Africa, we have also recently built a solid PR and business network in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. In around ten African markets, we are now able to support clubs with community management missions, acquisition campaigns, connection with sponsors or even PR/influence campaigns,” explains us. Jean-Philippe DuboisMarketing Director at Samba Digital.

Fruitful collaborations with OM and LFP

Samba Digital has already had the opportunity to showcase its expertise in African markets to several players in French professional football. For nearly a year and a half, the agency has been in charge of digital communication for Olympique de Marseille for several African countries, including Senegal, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. With three priorities worked on: the creation of geolocated content, the organization of local activations with fan clubs in the targeted countries and the organization of PR campaigns with local journalists and influencers.

“We are increasingly being asked by Ligue 1 clubs to set up a specific content strategy for the various Arabic and French-speaking markets on the African continent. French clubs already have large fan communities in the region,” Jean-Philippe Dubois tells us. A club like Olympique de Marseille brings together more than a million fans in Algeria alone. But English-speaking and even Portuguese-speaking markets are also attracting the attention of certain sports organisations. “For more than 2 years, we have been working with the LFP on a geolocated content strategy for certain English-speaking African markets. But, in this 2021-22 season, we have gone even further by producing Ligue 1 content in local dialects,” continues Jean-Philippe Dubois. “We started using Samba Digital’s Sports Translate service in 2021 to enrich our content strategy for specific markets. We were then able to set up an editorial strategy in 7 African dialects including Fulani, Yoruba, Hausa, Dioula, Wolof, Swahili and Lingala. Offering the most affinity content possible is at the heart of our development strategy” confirms David Labrun, Head of International Media Rights of the Professional Football League. A strategy that is bearing fruit: the publications of the LFP have reached more than 10 million people in sub-Saharan Africa over the past season, with engagement rates crossing the 15% mark in these territories!

Business opportunities to activate

Samba Digital is also able to work on more specific missions with sports organizations, especially on the PR part. For example, the agency helped the LFP to boost media coverage of its two-part event organized in Côte d’Ivoire last March-April. In addition to the “viewing party” set up in the Ivorian economic capital on the occasion of the last classic PSG – OM – bringing together more than 2,000 people for the occasion – the LFP has set up a CSR operation upstream in collaboration with the Analog Sports association. She then organized various workshops around the photography of sporting events in the orphanages of Bingerville and La Maison du Potier. Actions that have received strong media coverage thanks to the support of Samba Digital: more than ten leading Ivorian national media have covered the various actions carried out by the LFP, including RTI, Inter and La Fraternité.

“During the viewing party organized in Abidjan, we also asked the Samba agency to set up an influence strategy. We then called on a dozen local influencers. Posts published ahead of the event and live generated nearly 1.5 million impressions on social networks. The strong point of Samba Digital is to offer flexible and agile solutions. In just a few days, the agency is able to activate PR/digital plans in the targeted markets,” explains David Labrune.

However, French professional clubs could quickly face stiff competition on the various African markets. Indeed, other players in European football are eyeing the continent’s immense potential. “We have started serious discussions with several Premier League clubs to support them in these new markets” confirms Jean-Philippe Dubois.

The animation and activation of communities on such markets can now represent non-negligible commercial challenges, particularly in terms of merchandising and sponsorship. “We are increasing the number of OM jerseys and pieces sold in the various African countries targeted in our internationalization strategy with the help of our partner Puma,” explains Laurent Colette. “Through our support, we also want to create new business opportunities for the clubs. Many markets are gaining a lot of maturity at the moment in different African territories, particularly concerning betting and fintech in the broad sense. There are connections and market opportunities to be seized. Today, we are able to connect clubs to such players,” added Jean-Philippe Dubois. Opportunities also exist in terms of tourism, such as the contracts concluded between Rwanda and several European clubs including Arsenal FC and PSG or between the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority and Liverpool FC. Africa, the new Eldorado of European football?

This article was written by the editorial staff of Ecofoot as part of a partnership with Samba Digital. All the speakers in the article were interviewed by the Ecofoot teams.

Interested in setting up an internationalization strategy for African, American or Asian markets? A Samba Digital expert will get back to you as soon as possible