BBC World Service has secured English and Swahili commentary rights from FIFA for the forthcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa, it was announced today. Following on from its coverage of the 27th Africa Cup of Nations in Angola in 2010, BBC World Service will be broadcasting live commentary – in both English and Swahili, on FM relays across Africa – of all the qualified African teams’ games during the tournament, as well as the climax of the competition including the semi-finals and the final. The African teams competing in the tournament are: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Africa.As a result of this agreement with FIFA and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB), BBC World Service’s English language team of Richard Connelly, Farayi Mungazi, Richard Fleming and Piers Edwards will be joined in the commentary box for the duration of the tournament by three sports journalists from across the continent – Arjun Vidyarthi, a sports editor with Radio Africa in Kenya; Malik Jones, a journalist at Gambia Radio and TV Service; and Stanley Katsande, a commentator and analyst on both radio and television for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. These three journalists will act as additional commentators and pundits during the tournament.
Jerry Timmins, Head of Region for Africa and the Middle East, BBC World Service, says: “The BBC will be reporting and celebrating every twist and turn of the World Cup with our audiences across sub-Saharan Africa. Our commentaries in English for Africa and Swahili will be supplied to over 400 FM stations across Africa and it’s great to see journalists from other African stations joining the BBC commentary teams. This is a real partnership helping to bring Africa’s World Cup to African audiences.”
(Source: BBC World Service International Publicity/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)