By Precious John, Senior Special Correspondent

In a game-changing partnership, Unilever Personal Care brands Rexona, Axe and Dove have been announced as the official sponsors of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 and TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2024.

The partnership with CAF was spearheaded by Unilever International, Unilever’s Global Business Unit and Unilever’s Personal Care Business Group.

This association makes Unilever the exclusive Personal Care Consumer Goods partner for the two tournaments, with the company working closely with CAF on a range of football initiatives across a selection of African countries over the duration of the agreement.

The TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 will kick off on 13 January and is expected to be watched by over 800 million people worldwide, tuning in to catch the unique flavour of Africa’s biggest footballing celebration. 

The TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2024, meanwhile, is set to take place in the summer of 2024 in Morocco, with the dates still to be announced. 

By sponsoring the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023, Unilever is building on its rich history as a major partner of football events and competitions in Africa and Worldwide.

Executive Vice President, Unilever International Assem Puri said: “We are thrilled to partner with CAF and engage a large, diverse audience through our Personal Care brands. Through this partnership, we are also excited to connect with the future generation of football athletes across the African continent and help them grow.”

CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe said: “This major new partnership with Unilever represents a huge step towards achieving our objective of making CAF competitions, and African football, globally competitive and appealing to fans and viewers across Africa and around the world. We are delighted to welcome Unilever as the latest Official Sponsor of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 and the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2024, as well as with the numerous sponsors that we have been announcing over recent months. We look forward to welcoming the eyes of the world to our continent for a huge year of African football in 2024.”

Until the 11th of February, Unilever deodorant brands Rexona, Axe and Dove will also come with scratch coupons where up to 3000 consumers can win an all-expense paid trip to watch the games (T&Cs apply and participating countries are Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal, Kenya, Angola, Burkina Faso and Mali).