AFC set to maintain Lagardère connection with new partnership

The Asian Football Confederation is set to conclude a fresh eight-year contract with commercial rights partner the Lagardère Sports agency, according to Reuters.

The news agency, citing two sources close to the process, said the new deal with Lagardère Sports will overwrite the existing partnership with the World Sport Group agency.

WSG was part of Lagardère Unlimited, the sports marketing division of conglomerate Lagardère. Lagardère Unlimited last month unified all its agencies under the single commercial brand name of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment.

The existing WSG deal with the AFC, the governing body of Asian football, was based on a minimum guarantee of $600m (€528m), or $75m per year, over the eight years from 2013 to 2020, when it was signed in 2009.

Reuters said the new eight-year deal with Lagardère Sports has been lined up without a formal tender being launched. Lagardère chief operating officer Andrew Georgiou said he was confident of a new deal. “We have had negotiations and expect to renew the contract,” he added.

The sources close to the process said the AFC would receive a significant financial increase on the 2009 deal, while the governing body declined to say whether a contract had been agreed with Lagardère Sports.

“We have discussed our next commercial contract with a number of companies and when any deal is concluded we will announce it in the usual way,” an AFC spokesperson said.