Supersport Launches a Pan-African World Cup Campaign for a New Era. Directed by Jabu Nadia Newman

May. 13, 2026

When the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off this summer on North American soil, Africa will be watching - even if it means watching all through the night. Supersport, one of the continent's leading sports channels and flagship brand of MultiChoice, a CANAL+ subsidiary, unveils its official 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign: Everything Can Wait. An ode to a continent united by football.

• THE FILM: EVERYTHING CAN WAIT

The insight is simple and undeniable: the 2026 World Cup will be played in North American time zones, meaning most matches will air deep into the African night. And yet, thanks to DStv’s channel SuperSport, nobody will miss a second.

The film leans into this truth with joy rather than fatigue. Across a vivid, continent-spanning tableau, Africa is asleep in streets, in offices, in markets, not from exhaustion, but from devotion. Cities have gone quiet. Schedules have collapsed. Alarm clocks have been silenced. Sleep, meetings, deadlines, family dinners: everything can wait. The FIFA World Cup always comes first.

Hala Saab Africa Communication Director for CANAL+/ Multichoice said:

“We wanted to show how Africa unites around football, especially with the continent sending its largest contingent to the FIFA World Cup in history, with 10 African teams qualified. With sports as a key pillar for our group, this campaign produced with BETC Paris is also an opportunity to bring CANAL+’s creative DNA”

 

What emerges is something rarer than a sports ad: a genuine celebration of pan-African identity. Football here is not a pastime, it is a collective heartbeat. The film captures that with the warmth and specificity it deserves, drawing on the visual richness of dozens of communities across the continent. It is unapologetically African, unapologetically emotional, and unmistakably of this moment.

• THE DIRECTOR: JABU NADIA NEWMAN

To bring the film to life, BETC Paris turned to one of the most compelling voices in contemporary African filmmaking: South African director and multidisciplinary artist Jabu Nadia Newman.

Newman first gained international attention with The Foxy Five, a web series she independently wrote and directed as a student at the University of Cape Town, a work that sparked real cultural debate and announced an exceptional instinct for storytelling rooted in lived experience. Her short film The Dream That Refused Me, a lyrical meditation on African diaspora identity commissioned by NOWNESS and the British Council, earned her a Cannes Young Directors Award and cemented her as a genre-defying talent with genuine international reach.

Newman's signature is a bold, saturated visual language paired with an uncommon emotional honesty, a directorial voice that makes communities the protagonists of their own stories, not its subjects. For a film about collective African passion for football, the fit was evident, and the result speaks for itself.

• CANAL+: SAME HERITAGE IN A NEW FRONTIER

CANAL+ has always believed that entertainment should add something real to people's lives. Over five decades, that belief has shaped everything, from the stories we back, to the sport we champion, to the way we communicate. Humor, emotion, excitement - not as tools, but as a genuine commitment to content that matters. That commitment is now at the heart of Supersport, and it's what this campaign is built on.

• THE AGENCIES: BETC & HAVAS JOHANNESBURG

The campaign was conceived and created by BETC Paris, the agency that has been CANAL+'s creative partner since the very beginning and that is responsible for some of the most awarded and culturally resonant broadcast advertising of the past three decades. BETC Paris’ work for CANAL+ has consistently set a benchmark: campaigns that feel more like cinema than commercials, more like cultural criticism than marketing. With the MultiChoice acquisition, BETC Paris now brings that same creative ambition to DStv. The same rigour applied to one of the continent's most beloved brands, for the world's biggest sporting event.

For this new market CANAL+ is entering, Havas Johannesburg played a key role in shaping the strategic planning and ensuring the work resonates with local cultural nuances and audiences. Everything Can Wait is the first major expression of what that partnership looks like.

The campaign will be broadcasted from May 11th across 22 countries. The film exists in a 60’ format, two 30’ formats, two 15’ and two 6’ variations. The campaign also includes key visuals that will be displayed in two phases.