How to watch free AFCON live streams: See every Africa Cup of Nations match

Posted by Larita Shotwell on Wednesday, June 19, 2024
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    If you're looking for the latest guide on where to watch AFCON live streams for free, we have everything you need. Better yet, we can help to show you how to watch the Africa Cup of Nations for free no matter what country you are in right now. This is a great time to tune in as the final group games are happening this week ahead of the round of 16 games at the weekend. We've already seen hosts Ivory Coast eliminated, along with Ghana. Egypt only just scraped through, finishing second behind Cape Verde. 

    We've also looked through the quality paid options in different international markets to see where the best prices are. For example, in the US, it will only cost you $5 to watch the entire tournament via a streaming bundle that includes the required channel, BeIn. If you want to watch every game for free, you'll want to check out SABC, a channel in South Africa that will show every game. The UK's BBC will show ten games throughout the tournament for free, including the semis and the final. If you're not in the UK or South Africa, you'll need a VPN to get around geo-restrictions. 

    A VPN (virtual private network) will simulate your viewing device's location to allow you to stream feeds on international sites you'd otherwise be unable to play. We'll give you the rundown on how to do it below. The VPN we recommend can be used for many other streaming opportunities, like a free Australian Open live stream.

    How to watch AFCON live streams for free from anywhere 

    If you want access to every match of this year's Africa Cup of Nations, South African TV channel SABC has your back, with no sign-up required. During the final group games, where both matches are played at the same time, one match will be on SABC, and you'll find the other will streamed at SABC3. The main hitch is that you'll need a VPN to tune in outside of South Africa, as you'll get an error message when you try to hit play on their AFCON live stream. 

    Don't worry. You can push through the block with a VPN and start watching once you set its location to South Africa. A VPN virtually changes your devices' location, so apps and websites think you're connecting from servers within those countries, just like the local viewers.

    Don't have a VPN? There's a fantastic offer right now on the best VPN we've tested and have been using for years for streaming and beefing up our online security. You can pick up ExpressVPN, save 49% on the usual price, and get three months for free. It's the best investment in your sports-watching future if you know you'll want to watch more international sports streams. It's one of the few reliable VPNs with decent South African servers.

    The same VPN will also let you tune into the UK's coverage of select AFCON games shown on BBC3 and the iPlayer. Coverage is much more limited, though, with only ten games, including the semis and the final. Most other games are yet to be announced, but after looking way ahead in the TV listings, we can confirm that the next BBC games are on January 27 and 29, which will be round-of-16 games at 8 p.m. GMT. We'll update this guide with more confirmed BBC fixtures and teams as AFCON progresses.

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    How to watch the Africa Cup of Nations with a VPN

    • Sign up for a VPN if you don't have one.
    • Install it on the device you're using to watch the game.
    • Turn it on and set it to the streaming services country.
    • Go to SABC (South Africa) | BBC (UK).
    • Sign in or create a free login if using the BBC.
    • Watch the Africa Cup of Nations game.

    How to watch the Africa Cup of Nations in the UK

    As mentioned above, BBC3 will show ten select games during the tournament. If you want a direct local feed of every game, the only official UK option is via Sky Sports, which means getting your wallet out. You don't have to join a full-on Sky contract, though. The most efficient way to dive in is via their Now TV service, which lets you get Sky Sports on a one-month rolling contract that you can cancel whenever you like, and a single month will cover you through to the final. It's usually £34.99 a month but is currently down to £26.

    How to watch the Africa Cup of Nations in the USA

    If you want to watch AFCON online in the USA, you'll find it on the BeIN channel. If you don't have that in your current package, you have two options via cord-cutting live TV streaming services.

    FuboTV has it on its cheapest tier, which includes a seven-day free trial. After that, it's a rather eye-watering $79.99 a month. If you've been meaning to pick up a great live TV streaming service anyway, you might find the overall package worth sticking with.

    If you want the cheapest option in the US, we've found a super cheap deal of just $5. Yes, five. Sling TV lets you bag its Sling Soccer Pass without signing up for the regular Sling package. So you really can just bag the bolt-on on its own. 

    That's an absolute steal. If you're outside of the US and are thinking of diving in via a VPN, just be aware that you'll need a US payment method to pay for it, but if you can get around that, then the same VPN we mentioned above will let you stream the channel.

    Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

    Brendan Griffiths Senior Commerce Director Brendan is the Senior Commerce Director at Insider Inc, having joined the company in early 2023. He oversees a wide range of our eCommerce content covering deals, popular sales events, How to Watch guides, and VPN articles. He also utilizes his extensive experience in SEO and Google algorithm updates to help improve content and rankings for a wide range of our shoppable buying guides, reviews, versus content, and more. He has over 16 years of online journalism experience and a UK University degree in Journalism and Film & Media. Initially working as a freelance gaming journalist and eCommerce editor, he later joined Future Publishing in 2016 as their first-ever Deals Writer at TechRadar. Over the next six years, he became the Deals Editor at TechRadar, then Managing Editor of Hardware & eCommerce at GamesRadar before moving over to Future's mobile tech division to become the eCommerce Content Director for Android Central, iMore, and Windows Central. Over the years, Brendan has written about a wide range of subjects. Be it covering game previews at GamesCom in Germany, listing the best Amazon Prime Day deals, reviewing gaming controllers, Kindles, and folding smartphones, or even international guides on buying a mattress - he's still quite annoyed that the UK and US have different sizes and names for them. More recently, he's been covering international How to Watch guides on various sporting events like Formula 1, tennis, Champions League, cricket, or the hottest new movies and TV shows.   Outside of work, you'll find Brendan trying to make a dent in various watchlists across streaming apps or playing games on his Series X or PS5, usually downloading (hoarding) yet more Game Pass games or grumbling about how open-world games should be scrapped for a solid 10-hour experience like the Uncharted series. Read more Read less

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