Who controls Egypt’s sports scene?
The rising monopoly of the Egyptian state-owned advertising and sports marketing agency Presentation Sports over soccer broadcasting rights is raising controversy.
CAIRO — The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced Jan. 8 that Egypt will host, from June 15 to July 13, the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) soccer tournament. This was seen as a victory for the Egyptian advertising and sports marketing agency Presentation Sports. According to previous statements by Hani Abu Rida, president of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), Presentation Sports is a state-owned company.
Presentation Sports started operating in 2010 in the field of advertising and entered the sports field in 2015. It now has exclusive media sponsorship rights of the EFA, the Egyptian national soccer team, the Egyptian Premier League and Egyptian Cup, and the majority of Egyptian clubs, most notably Al-Ahly and Zamalek. In 2016, the Egyptian Media Group (EMG) owned by Ahmed Abu Hashima, a business tycoon and very close ally of the regime of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, acquired 51% of Presentation Sports. Abu Hashima later sold his stake in EMG in 2017.
EMG owns a number of satellite channels, newspapers and websites such as Al-Hayat, ON TV, CBS, Al-Youm Al-Sabeh, Soutalomma and other media outlets.
Presentation Sports exploited its monopoly of the sponsorship rights of the Egyptian Premier League by granting EMG-owned ON Sport TV exclusive broadcasting rights in July 2018. This allowed EMG to reap all advertisement profits during league's matches.
