AFCON 2025: TECNO launches AI features to give football fans a new experience

With the 2025 edition of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicking off in less than two weeks, global technology company TECNO has announced the launch of a suite of four football-focused artificial intelligence (AI) features. According to a statement seen by Technext, the company said the features are designed to reshape the way millions of Africans experience the tournament.

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The AI features, powered by the company’s proprietary Ella AI system, reflect a growing shift in how football is consumed in the digital age, not only in stadiums and living rooms, but through the lenses, feeds and instant reactions that dominate smartphones across the continent.

“For many fans, the smartphone has become a second screen, a debate platform, a slow-motion studio and a memory archive. TECNO’s latest tools attempt to formalise that reality, turning everyday devices into active companions capable of interpreting the match as it unfolds,” the company’s statement reads.

TECNO’s new AFCON 2025 AI features

The suite comprises four new AI features. First is the Ella Match Decoder, which is at the centre of the rollout. The decoder is an AI engine that reads on-field movements, tactical patterns and key plays in real time. It then delivers instant, simplified analysis normally reserved for professional commentators. This essentially allows casual viewers to ‘decode’ the game, understanding momentum shifts, defensive structures or build-up sequences with unusual clarity.

The second feature is the Ella Snap and Know, which brings visual recognition capabilities. Next is the Ella Match Highlight, which compiles personalised summaries of decisive actions, goals, recoveries, combinations, errors or turning points. With this feature, fans gain autonomy over what they revisit and share, independent of official broadcast clips or social-media circulation.

Last but by no means the least is the Ella Star Cam, which shifts focus from the pitch to the stands. Described as a “superstar lens,” the company said the tool is built to capture what defines the AFCON experience for many. This includes the chants, synchronised dances, sharp pivots of excitement and collective euphoria that animate African football culture.

The Ella Star Cam can anticipate movement and emotion, creating footage that feels closer to immersion than observation.

Together, the company says the tools express its broader Aspire Intelligence philosophy, which interprets AI not as a distant technical layer but as an intuitive part of everyday behaviour. In the context of football, the company says, that means focusing on the small details that shape how people watch, debate, and emotionally process the game, from tactical curiosity to the instinct to document fleeting celebration.

“As an Official Partner of the Confederation of African Football, TECNO plans to integrate the technology into its on-ground booths, fan-engagement zones and digital communities throughout the tournament. The company describes the rollout as part of a larger effort to create a more participatory football ecosystem, one where fans help define the narrative rather than merely consume it,” the company’s statement reads.

With AFCON 2025 expected to dominate screens and social platforms across the continent, TECNO’s announcement underscores a broader shift: smartphones no longer record the atmosphere around the game, they interpret it, contextualise it and shape how it is remembered.