Client

The FIFA Club World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in international club football, bringing together the champion clubs from each of the six continental confederations as well as the winner from the host nation’s league. Abu Dhabi staged the event in 2009 and 2010, with Four working on the second year of the tournament in the UAE.

Objective

Our objectives were to talk directly with and build credibility amongst core football audiences locally and across the region. Importantly, we wanted the football community to understand what the tournament was about and excite them to get behind the clubs.

A thorough understanding and extensive awareness of the new ticketing system being introduced and the benefits it would bring to fans - and to the UAE events industry - was also a key focus in helping to drive ticket sales.

Solution

We positioned the tournament as the only truly global club football event – a must see tournament for football lovers and fanatics of the game in the UAE and across the Middle East.

Strong media relations were in place to get journalists on board and covering the clubs so fans understood them and bought tickets early. We engaged heavily with the local team (Al Wahda FC) to drive local passion and support for the home-town heroes who would be competing amongst the world’s top clubs.

Results

Penetrating the media with our key messages proved successful, with the main tournament objective of communicating with football fans at a high level across press coverage. There were more than 1,300 print articles generated in local and regional daily print media directly relating to the tournament and campaign activities.

The tournament saw near capacity crowds with over 200,000 fans enjoying the event across the 11 days, an increase of over 35% on the 2009 figures.