Orange has been holding a series of Orange Sponsors Change regional football tournaments across its footprint. The tournaments are enabling 12-13 year olds to play football and collect plastic waste in exchange for rewards and the chance to be celebrated during the AFCON final on February 6th. All the regional tournament winners will be invited to go head to head at the International final of Orange Sponsors Change next spring.
The competition, running from 9th January to 6th February 2022, will be held in six stadia in five cities across Cameroon. Out of the 24 teams that have qualified, 11 belong to a country where Orange is present. These are Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Mali, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia.
The Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 provides Orange with an opportunity to reiterate its environmental commitments. This includes the elimination of plastic waste in Africa and beyond. This year, Orange wanted to take advantage of its partnership with the largest African sporting event to extend and promote Orange Sponsors Change in 12 countries on the continent. These are Morocco, Sierra Leone, Mali, Liberia, Cameroon, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, CAR, DRC.
This first Pan-African edition encouraged 12-13 year-olds to participate in local qualifying tournaments while collecting plastic waste. The first local tournaments mobilized thousands of young people and their families and achieved tonnes of plastic waste collection.
In Cameroon for example, football players who participated in Orange Sponsors Change joined forces with the Orange Clean Your City initiative to collect waste in 7 cities across the country. In total, 1,300 volunteers roamed the streets to collect 14 tonnes of plastic which will be transformed into football equipment and redistributed to football academies in Cameroon.
This year, the participating stadia will be filled with Orange tap taps, enabling fans to support their team and share their passion. This year all the tap taps will no longer be made of plastic but recycled biodegradable potato starch, reflecting Orange’s commitment to the reduction of plastic waste. In addition, Orange will be providing young players across it’s footprint with 20,000 balls made from recycled rubber, so they can continue to enjoy their passion for football long after the big event.