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Press Releases
´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service at the Africa Cup of Nations
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´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service will be in the heart of Ghana to bring its most extensive
coverage yet of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations to millions of football fans
across Africa and the world.
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Its three-week coverage from the biggest sporting event on the continent
launches at 05.30 GMT on Friday 18 January with a special joint broadcast
between two flagship programmes: The World Today and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ English for
Africa breakfast news programme, Network Africa.
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And at 16.00 GMT the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s
English for Africa sports programme, Fast Track, announces the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s
African Footballer of the Year 2007.
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s 60-million weekly listeners in Africa will hear match commentary
and special reports capturing the vibe and excitement of Ghana 2008 in a
range of programmes while, globally, special programming includes the
dedicated 10-minute morning programme Africa Cup Of Nations Daily, at 04.20
and 07.20 GMT, and two special editions of the interactive programme World
Have Your Say on Wednesday 30 January and Friday 1 February at 18.00 GMT.
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News of every goal and incident will be delivered internationally on radio
and online by the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s best football experts and broadcasting talent.
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Audiences in Africa will be able to follow the tournament in nine languages
– Arabic, English, French, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Portuguese, Somaliand Swahili – while many more of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s remaining 24 language services
will be reporting on the events.
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Both ´óÏó´«Ã½ Swahili and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Afrique (the
´óÏó´«Ã½'s French language service for Africa) will be covering Ghana 2008
extensively including the popular Swahili football show Ulimwengu wa Soka and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Afrique Sport Weekend.
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s coverage of the final from
the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra on Sunday 10 February begins at 16.00 GMT
as the atmosphere starts to build.
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Further information, minute-by-minute text and audio coverage and podcasts
are also available on the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s English language site,
bbcworldservice.com/africanfootball and on the individual ´óÏó´«Ã½ language
sites.
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´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service sports programmes covering Ghana 2008 include:
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Fast Track – this English for Africa programme is presented by Farayi
Mungazi. It has reporters at every game, bringing news and in-depth
analysis on Mondays and Fridays at 16.00 GMT and Sundays at 17.30 GMT.
Fans can participate by email: fast.track@bbc.co.uk or text: + 44 7786 20
20 08
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Sportsworld broadcasts to a global audience, bringing all the action,
reports and comments including big-name interviews. Russell Fuller is in
Accra to present the opening and closing weekends. Every Saturday at 14.00
GMT and Sunday at 17.00 GMT (16.00 to Africa). Emails:
sportsworld@bbc.co.uk, text: +44 7786 20 2004
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World Football with Alan Green gets behind the scenes and tells the inside
story of the world's number one sport every Saturday morning at 07.30 and
11.30 GMT. Fans can download a podcast and email Alan via
bbcworldservice.com/africanfootball
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Sports Roundup will have bulletins of all the latest sports news including
results, interviews and analysis each day with an extra edition each day of
the tournament
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Throughout the competition ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service is on the ground connecting
with fans at the main social hubs and internet cafes of the four host
cities – Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Sekondi-Takoradi.
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They will distribute
a vibrant Africa Cup of Nations wallchart allowing fans to update match
results as the tournament progresses and a ´óÏó´«Ã½ car bumper sticker, postcard
and T-shirt all specially designed for the games.
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The internet cafés also provide an opportunity to demonstrate the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s
comprehensive ´óÏó´«Ã½ African football website,
bbcworldservice.com/africanfootball, and encourage fans to download a
special wallpaper for their PCs.
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They also will be inspired to take up the
´óÏó´«Ã½'s unique online challenge – a viral penalty shootout game fronted by
Fast Track's Farayi Mungazi which enables fans to "play" for their team and
compete for a virtual trophy.
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Vera Kwakofi, Editorial Co-ordinator of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s coverage of Ghana 2008,
said: "This tournament promises to be a huge African football party, and
´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service will be at its centre with bigger, more comprehensive
coverage than ever.
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"As broadcasters and football lovers, we are looking
forward to bringing this unique sporting event to our millions of listeners
and online users across the world.
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"We have an unrivalled team of African
football experts who will bring all the news of the 2008 Africa Cup of
Nations to fans across the globe, and I know they will not be
disappointed." Ìý
´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Publicity
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