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The new Saturday sports programme on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique, Samedi Foot, is to bring live commentary of England's Premier League matches to fans across Francophone Africa, thanks to an agreement between ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service and the Premier League.

The three-year agreement, which will be in force until May 2014, means that audiences of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique will now hear full live commentary of selected Premier League matches in French. From Saturday 11 September, the new weekly programme, Samedi Foot, at 13.45-16.00 GMT will give football fans the opportunity to follow full games, including previews, half-time and full-time analysis.

Samedi Foot is produced and presented by ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique's Emmanuel Coste, who also hosts the popular weekend sports programme, Sport Week-end.

Emmanuel says: "The English Premier League football is exceptionally popular in countries to which we broadcast, especially Ivory Coast, Togo and DR Congo. Some of these countries are also homelands of iconic players such as Emmanuel Adebayor, El Hadji Diouf, Didier Drogba and Alex Song. I am sure that football fans in Central and West Africa will share our excitement as ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique brings to them the class and drama of the English Premier League football with full live commentary in French on Samedi Foot."

Paul Molnar, Head of International Broadcasting and Media Operations, Premier League, says: "Africa has provided many great players for the Premier League, and we are pleased to extend the accessibility of the league through the local language radio services of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service broadcasting to this region."

Premier League games coverage on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique also includes special reports on the Friday 16.00 GMT news bulletins and previews of the Premier League weekend matches on Saturday editions of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Midi at 12.00 GMT.

Premier League matches commentary rights are also secured for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s broadcasts in Hausa, Portuguese and Somali. The agreement also extends the existing commentary rights of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Swahili service which has been broadcasting live Saturday afternoon football commentaries since 2004.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service's multilingual commentary of the Premier League will be available in the following African countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros Islands, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, St Helena, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Notes to Editors

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique broadcasts about eight hours a day. Its three main news and current affairs programmes, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Matin (06.00-07.30 GMT), ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Midi (12.00-12.30GMT) and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Soir (18.00-18.30GMT), focus on news in French-speaking Africa and across the continent and the world. Millions across Francophone Africa tune in to its programmes on FM, shortwave and online, via the website, bbcafrique.com.

The programmes are produced in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s studios in London and in the bureaux in Abidjan, Bujumbura, Dakar, Kigali and Kinshasa. In addition to its daily programmes, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique takes a look at news and current affairs in its weekly feature programmes: L'Interview, Africana, Britannia, L'Autre Actualité, Sport Week-end and Afrique Hebdo. Interactivity makes up a big part of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Afrique output as audiences are invited to share their views by SMS messages sent to particular programmes and via the Forum pages on bbcafrique.com.

On the weekly programmes, Le Club ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and Star Club, listeners can exchange views, find friends or dedicate songs to friends and family. The monthly programme, L'Afrique en Direct, encourages listeners to take part in debates with specially invited guests.

World Service Publicity