Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies has been one of the official sponsors of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament since 2008.
As part of Samsung’s sponsorship of the Orange AFCON Equatorial Guinea 2015 and their goal of recognising talent on the African continent, Samsung continues to present the award to 32 players that are part of the AFCON tournament with the ‘Samsung Fair Player of the Match’, as well as nominate one player that will be awarded the ‘Samsung Fair Player of the Competition’ at the final match taking place on the 8th of February 2015.
The award is to promote the fair play sport along with the excitement of the competition for AFCON. The criteria to be nominated for the ‘Samsung Fair Player Awards’ requires football players with diverse football skills that will be judged by the CAF. With the tournament reaching its crucial knock-out stages, it will be interesting to see who the ultimate Samsung ‘Fair Players’ will be.
The selected players will be able to join the ranks of previous prize winners of the ‘Samsung Fair Player of the Match’ such Frederic Bulot of Gabon, Andre Ayew of Ghana, Erick Mathoho of South Africa and Ahmed Kashi of Algeria.
“These games are intense and exciting, but there is more to the game than just winning and getting a ball into the net. Teams and players that plays hard, but fair, always win the hearts and minds of spectators,” says Mr. George Ferreira, Samsung Africa VP and COO.
“The competition is fierce on the field and Samsung is proud to be associated with encouraging high levels of fairness during the games. It has been great to see so many top players doing so well and winning these prizes,” says Mr. Amr Shaheen, CAF Marketing & TV Director.
Samsung has taken a leading role in not only sponsoring the tournament but has also been reaching out to the African community through CSR initiatives that promote football on the continent, specifically with the youth who wish to continue pursuing football as a profession.