A SUCCESSFUL staging of the AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates concluded on Friday with Qatar emerging as champion with a 3-1 victory over Japan in the final.
It was a culmination of a tournament that proved to be not only a hit on the pitch with quality matches but also across various social media platforms, enough for it to be hailed as the most engaging in the history of the Cup.
As per data shared by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to members of media, the just-concluded Asian Cup UAE 2019 engaged with more fans than ever before as more than 836.6 million fans interacted through the tournament’s digital platforms, shattering the record set in 2015 in Australia and nearly doubling the 434 million TV viewership for that tournament.
Fans also made their presence felt on Twitter, which received over 106.5 million impressions compared to three million in the last edition.
A significant uptick was seen on Instagram with the tournament’s account garnering an astonishing reach of nearly 132.4 million compared to the one million engaged in Australia, as another 52.8 million impressions were garnered on Instagram stories.
The tournament Website — the-AFC.com — which the AFC said was remodeled for the continental football spectacle one month before kickoff in the UAE received over 30.9 million page views, or 100% more than the 15 million from Australia 2015.
On YouTube it had viewers tuning in to notch up 42.5 million minutes of viewed action.
The tournament was also a hit in China People’s Republic as the AFC’s ever-expanding Weibo platform reached over 50 million impressions.
With such impressive numbers, the AFC said they are taking pride in as they show its efforts to make the matches and the sport more engaging and relatable to people are bearing fruits even as it said it will continue to work towards such a direction.
“The consumer patterns of today’s football fans continue to shift rapidly, and the AFC’s digital offerings have been significantly enhanced to meet the demands of our passionate fans. Our ambition with every competition is to improve on the legacy from the last edition and the hundreds of millions engaged by the world-class football on display exemplifies the undeniable rise and progress of Asian football,” said AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John in a statement.
“We will continue to strengthen our digital platforms as we strive to bring to life our vision to confirm football as the number one sport on the continent,” he added. The AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 also marked the first time that the Philippines appeared in the tournament.
The Philippine Azkals failed to advance beyond group play and bowed out with sans to show for but turned heads with their spirited effort. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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