MUMBAI: Sony Six has bagged the rights to air the Africa Cup of Nations 2015 live in South Asia. The tournament is the international football championship of Africa held every two years and organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).The upcoming edition of the tournament will be played in Equatorial Guinea from 17 January to 8 February 2015.

This year’s edition will be the first ever to be shown live in India and will feature line-ups of teams such as Ghana, Ivory Coast and South Africa. Some of the stars headlining the Africa Cup of Nations this year include Christian Atsu, Papiss Cisse, Asamoah Gyan (Ghana),Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Cheick Tiote, Wilfried Bony (Ivory Coast) and Diafra Sakho (Senegal).

Commenting on the acquisition, Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, “The rights for the Africa Cup of Nations are a great addition to our bouquet of live sports programming. This reinforces our position as the home for the top international football tournaments. Furthermore, most of the matches from the tournament are going to be telecast here at prime time, which will boost its viewership in our region.”

This year’s Africa Cup of Nations will guarantee a new champion, as Nigeria, the winners of the last championship did not qualify for the tournament. The opening match will be played between the hosts Equatorial Guinea and Congo at Estadio de Bata and shown live on Six SD and HD on 17 January, 2015 at 9:30pm.