Abdul Latif bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud (third right), CEO of Dar Al Sharq Group; Manuel Mirat (second left), CEO of Spanish Priza Group; with Hassan Thawadi (centre), Secretary-General of Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy; Ramy Salama (third left), A
Leading media group in Qatar, Dar Al Sharq signed a partnership agreement with Spanish media group Prisa to launch the first Arabic football content in Qatar through the website “as. com”.
The agreement was signed by Dar Al Sharq Group’s CEO, Abdul Latif bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud and Spanish Prisa Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Manuel Mirat. It plans to tap into the entire Arab region to benefit from the sports content provided by the Spanish group in Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, The United States, Argentina and the United Kingdom.
During the event Al Mahmoud said:“This agreement opens the door for both parties to meet our customers’ needs in Qatar and the Arab region, especially in light of the ongoing preparations for hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which is the most important event in the region.”
“This requires us (in the media sector) to keep pace with the latest developments through providing world standard sports content to familiarise with Qatar and Arab world along with the efforts exerted by Qatar to host this major international event,” he added. He mentioned that the partnership is expected to achieve one of Dar Al Sharq’s strategic objectives to acquire a share of the digital advertising market in the Arab world, adding: “We will obtain it through the site’s expected visits to watch distinctive sport content.”
Spanish Ambassador to Qatar, Ignacio Escober told The Peninsula: “ Speaking about the sports in Arab world only state of Qatar highlights, due to 2022 world cup. Spain is a highly qualified country in terms of sports, football in particular. We have very good players from Spain playing for Qatari clubs and many experts as coaches as well.
“PRISA Group already has a connection with Qatar ‘Dar Al Sharq Group’, as they are part of the shares belong to this group. It was natural that this relationship expanded in sports field,” he added.
On his part, Mirat said: “We are overwhelmed to partnership with leading media group in Qatar, Dar AI Sharq. Now we can reach out to four hundred million people with our Arabic content. We are building a platform step by step in next three months, as we are officially launching in December. We are producing quality content on daily basis and we will continue to do the same in future.”
“The AS Group has selected Qatar because it is well aware of the great opportunities that exist here, which have attracted global firms to the Qatari market, especially that the Gulf state has great information infrastructure and advanced services in the technology sector. Additionally, It is at the forefront of the Arab countries in terms of Internet use, digital transformation and transition to knowledge economy, not to mention the opportunities expected in the light of hosting the World Cup 2022 in Doha,” he added.
