Caf set for sponsorship deal

Caf are set to sign a sponsorship deal with US $12 million

Africa's major football competitions are set to receive a massive boost with a South African mobile phone company reportedly ready to sign a US$12 million sponsorship deal.

According to reports, the package from MTN will be announced at a news conference in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Thursday.

The agreement will be the biggest sponsorship deal in African sporting history and will run until 2010.

MTN will become the main sponsors of the next two African Cup of Nations finals - in Egypt in 2006 and in Ghana two years later.

MTN will replace mobile phone manufacturers Nokia, who sponsored the Nations Cup in Tunisia earlier this year.

The mobile phone company will also continue its deal to back the African Champions League until 2010.

MTN already sponsors this year's Champions League as well as the Confederation of African Football's annual awards banquet.

The company is Africa's largest cellular operator by revenue, with a major presence in Nigeria, Cameroon and Uganda.

It is the second biggest operator in South Africa and controls about half of the total mobile subscriber base in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.