SuperSport has secured the sub-Saharan African broadcast rights to the continent's first Fifa World Cup, to be held in South Africa next year, as well as the 2009 Confederations Cup. The pan-African broadcaster is now unquestionably the dominant force in African sports broadcasting, having also secured the rights to the Uefa Champions League, the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga and more.

The broadcaster will show the matches live in more than 40 countries through its DStv channel. The World Cup will run for a full calendar month from June 11 to July 11, and will feature 32 nations, including automatically-qualified hosts South Africa and six other African teams, playing 64 games to determine the next world champion.

"To now be able to bring this prestigious event to Africa the first time it’s like happening on the continent, is indeed a special and proud moment," said SuperSport chief executive Imtiaz Patel. "Viewers can now look forward to quality coverage and we already have plans in place to complement the live action with superb supplementary product."

The Fifa World Cup is the most-watched sporting event in the world, surpassing even the Olympic Games. The cumulative audience of the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany, is estimated as 26.29 billion. More than 715 million people watched the World Cup final.

"Viewers can look forward to quality coverage and plans are in place to complement the live football action with superb supplementary product, including previews, reviews and other commentary," said Elizabeth Dziva, head of public relations at MultiChoice, SuperSport's parent company. "DStv remains at the forefront of screening major global sporting events. Following our coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the next massive event is the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which our audiences can now look forward to seeing on our service."