Doha: Al Kass Cup football tournament was one of the most followed sporting event reaching millions of people around the world through digital channels, it has emerged.
The Under-18 tournament was followed closely by a global audience of football fans on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the tournament website.
The Facebook page for the tournament was the fastest growing and most engaging Facebook page in the Middle East and North Africa on 9 February 2013 according to SocialWatchlist.
With an engagement rate of 200%; the Facebook page also won seven accolades for its outstanding performance compared to the local and regional Facebook pages.
More than 39,000 people from around the world voted on who they thought would win the tournament; which ended up being the Brazilian Fluminense who defeated last edition’s champions Paris Saint-Germain in this year’s final.
The other teams that took part in the tournament were home teams Aspire International and Aspire Qatar, Zamalek SC of Egypt, Al Nassr from Saudi Arabia, Boca Juniors from Argentina, Liverpool from England, Yokohama F Marinos from Japan, Inter Milan from Italy, Real Madrid from Spain and Esperance from Tunisia.
All the activities and the games were covered live play-by-play on twitter with more than 125 tweets on average being sent out every day during the event.
The account was retweeted and mentioned more than 7,500 times; with #AlkassCup being mentioned 4,342 times.
The YouTube channel featured summaries of all the matched, the press conferences, and more; all of which were viewed more than 67,000 times, more than half of which came from Brazil who were supporting their winning team. In addition to the above the official website of the tournament got more than 100,000 visits.
“All of this goes to show that the world’s eyes are on Qatar when it comes to sports and football, and that the sports activities that take place in Qatar can now be shared with the world in a socially interactive manner,” said Shadi Safadi who was managing the social engagement at the event.
The seven-day tournament was hosted by Al Kass, together with Aspire Zone Foundation and, Qatar Football Association, initiating a new tradition for the world of football and was held from January 28 to February 7.
The tournament featured the Under-18 teams of some of the best football clubs in the world.
This was the second successive year the Al Kass football tournament was hosted by Qatar.
The Peninsula
