The FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021™ was a great success, and enabled FIFA, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22) and the Host Country to test numerous aspects of tournament operations ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, which will kick off on 21 November.

The FIFA Arab Cup was an excellent opportunity to learn and refine plans, as well as to showcase FIFA and Qatar’s preparations and readiness. It united millions of people from the Arab region and beyond, in stadiums and watching from home, with the region’s passion for the sport clear to see.

FIFA, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22) have gathered an overview of the event’s facts and figures – from over 630,000 ticket allocations to more than a thousand pieces of luggage carried by the 16 participating teams.

The numbers speak for themselves, showcasing – in spite of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic – how fans from Qatar, the Middle East and around the world were able to cheer for their teams and enjoy an amazing tournament.

THE EVENT

• The FIFA Arab Cup 2021 was the 1^st edition of the tournament
• National teams: 16
• Matches: 32
• Stadiums: 6

ON THE PITCH

• Number of goals: 83
• Average goals per match: 2.6
• Yellow cards: 101
• Red cards: 13
• Top goalscorer: Seifeddine Jaziri (Tunisia – 4 goals)

REFEREES

• 12 referees and 24 assistant referees from 6 confederations, plus 16 VARs
• Training sessions: 23
• Transfers: 329

TICKETING

• Total tickets allocated: 631,742
• Percentage of tickets presented on mobile phones by general public: 92%
• Matches with an occupancy above 80% (based on tickets put on sale given COVID-19 capacity restrictions):
• Match 1: Qatar vs Bahrain
• Match 12: Syria vs Tunisia
• Match 13: Jordan vs Morocco
• Match 14: Lebanon vs Algeria
• Match 15: Sudan vs Egypt
• Match 17: Syria vs Mauritania
• Match 18: Tunisia vs United Arab Emirates
• Match 20: Qatar vs Iraq
• Match 21: Morocco vs Saudi Arabia
• Match 22: Jordan vs Palestine
• Match 23: Algeria vs Egypt
• Match 25: Oman vs Tunisia
• Match 26: Qatar vs United Arab Emirates
• Match 27: Egypt vs Jordan
• Match 28: Morocco vs Algeria
• Match 29: Tunisia vs Egypt
• Match 30: Qatar vs Algeria
• Match 31: Egypt vs Qatar
• Match 32: Tunisia vs Algeria
• Tickets purchased by Qatari residents: 89%
• Tickets purchased by international visitors: 11%
• Top 5 ticket buyers by nationality: India, Qatar, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan
• Top 5 ticket buyers by residence: Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, Iraq
• Biggest crowd: 63,439 for the quarter-final match between Qatar and United Arab Emirates – a national attendance record for a sporting event

HOSPITALITY

• Packages sold: 16,765
• Hospitality lounges: 4 (3,200m²)
• Skyboxes: 294
• Staff: 2,500

HAY’YA CARD (FAN ID)

• Total approved Hay’ya cards: 174,087
• Hay’ya cards collected: 75%
• Hay’ya cards delivered/couriered: 25%

TEAMS

• Accredited team delegates: 842, of which 387 were players
• Team luggage: 1,166 pieces
• Official training sessions: 64
• Other training sessions: 118
• Transfers: 1,222
• Press conferences: 64

ACCREDITATION

• Main Accreditation Centre: 1
• Stadium Accreditation Centres: 6
• Accreditation passes printed: 50,414

TRANSPORTATION

• 2.5m fans used public transport throughout the tournament
• 600 buses dedicated to FIFA Arab Cup operations
• 680,000 passengers used metro services to access the Corniche during the period it was closed to vehicles

VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMME

• 55,989 registrations submitted
• 5,000 volunteers
• 350 international volunteers from 92 different nationalities
• 95% Qatari residents

SUSTAINABILITY & DIVERSITY

• All stadiums were accessible and inclusive
• 2 stadiums piloted the audio descriptive commentary service in Arabic for the first time
• 1 sensory viewing room at Education City Stadium

Anti-discrimination training

• All FIFA referees, FIFA match commissioners, FIFA match directors and FIFA safety and security officers were trained in anti-discrimination measures
• All stewards, other venue-related staff and volunteers received basic training in anti-discrimination

Procedures for discriminatory incidents

• Proactive anti-discrimination stadium announcement displayed before all matches
• Reactive stadium announcement and three-step procedure was in place for all matches

Anti-discrimination monitoring system

• Anti-discrimination risk assessment provided for all 32 matches
• Anti-discrimination match observers deployed at all discrimination-related high-risk matches
• Special flags and banners screening provided for all 32 matches

FOOD & BEVERAGE (STADIUM CONCESSIONS)

• Staff members: 1,500

FIFA DIGITAL

Social channels :

• Impressions: 326m
• Engagements: 6.5m
• Video views: 57m

Owned channels

• Unique visitors: 2.4m
• Visits: 5.8m
• Page views: 43m
• 11m subscribers mark reached on FIFA’s YouTube channel during the event

Twitter

• Number of Twitter mentions during the whole tournament: 352,000 (#FIFArabCup was mentioned 40,000 times)
• Peak was reached during the final on 18 December: 80,000 mentions

MEDIA & BROADCASTING

• Over 1,000 journalists accredited
• Among Media Rights Licensees, 15% were international
• Among other media, 65% were international

Rights distribution

• 15 Media Rights Licensees covering 83 territories around the globe broadcast the event on linear television
• The event was streamed worldwide on a free basis on FIFA’s YouTube and/or broadcast partners’ digital channels
• beIN SPORTS transmitted all 32 matches on satellite free-to-air television and on digital across the MENA region
• Additional free-to-air television coverage in MENA was provided through Al Kass & Al Rayyan (Qatar), On Time Sport (Egypt), Al Rabiaa TV (Iraq) and Oman Sports TV (Oman)
• 650 individual accreditations for the event were allocated to broadcast partners

Initial TV audience figures

Data based on beIN SPORTS free-to-air pan-regional linear channel transmission of the first 28 matches:

• 85m unique viewers estimated for beIN SPORTS coverage of the FIFA Arab Cup up to the quarter-finals stage
• Average of 3.1m viewers for each group stage match for a reach of 7.6m individual viewers
• Algeria vs Egypt was the most-watched group stage match: average audience of 9.5m viewers and unique reach of 23.8m viewers
• Average of 7.2m viewers for each quarter-final match
• Morocco vs Algeria quarter-final provided highest viewership to-date: average estimated audience of 11m and unique reach of 27.6m viewers

Publics Sports & Entertainment estimated the average audience figures based on the reach information supplied by beIN SPORTS.

Production

• 5 host broadcast production teams
• 1080i world feed
• 29 host broadcast production cameras across all matches
• Dedicated digital content production
• International Broadcaster Coordination Centre and UHD HDR production at Al Bayt Stadium (5 matches) as part of FIFA World Cup 2022 technical platform and workflows testing

Source and cover image credit: FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021™ Press Release

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Nabeela

Content Writer

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