Binance will bring its global brand and technology to African football, as it announces its partnership with the Confederation of African Football (CAF), as an official sponsor of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournaments 2021.

The renowned football event will take place from January 9 till February 6, 2022, in Cameroon.

This sponsorship deal will make Binance the exclusive cryptocurrency & blockchain platform for the AFCON 2021 tournaments and marks the first time Binance will sponsor a large-scale football event.

Binance will also be the official partner of the Assist of the Day / Binance Assist of the Week / Binance Assist of the Tournament, which will be promoted across CAF’s social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and across all six venues in five cities in Cameroon.

Veron Mosengo-Omba, CAF's General Secretary said, “I am delighted to welcome Binance as an official sponsor of the AFCON tournament this year. Through this partnership with CAF, Binance will connect further with its users and the African community through football.

"CAF is ready to embrace blockchain-based technology and its impact on the future of African football development. I am certain that together with Binance, we can take African football to a new level.”

As part of its mission to drive blockchain adoption and enable greater access to financial services for the world’s unbanked, Binance has provided free crypto education classes to over 541,000 Africans since 2020 - on topics ranging from user protection to building a career in blockchain.

Co-founder and CMO of Binance, Yi He said, “With a population of 1.2 billion Africans and the prevalence of blockchain technology & its use cases, we believe the African continent could lead the future of the blockchain industry. We will continue to put in our efforts in pushing the mainstream adoption of crypto, so that more people can understand crypto, and understand Binance."

The TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations tournament starts the sports calendar of the year for Africa.

Binance Director for Africa, Emmanuel Babalola said, “Football is the most popular sport in Africa, one that unites the entire continent and as the leading blockchain ecosystem, we are proud to be an official sponsor of the AFCON tournament. This corroborates our mission to take crypto mainstream across the continent.”

The TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations kicked off on Sunday at Olembe Stadium in Yaounde, with the host country Cameroon facing Burkina Faso.

More than 160 nations will live broadcast the tournament with an audience of over 300 million.