Sports
2010 W/Cup: Fans Turn To Cellphones To Track Games
The billions of fans of soccer’s World Cup, globally the premiere sporting event, will increasingly turn to mobile phones to track the action, according to a Nielsen survey released over the weekend.
More than half of the 27,000 people surveyed in 55 countries plan to follow the popular soccer tournament which is played every four years and begins in South Africa on June 11, Nielsen said in a survey.
Twenty-one percent said they would get information about the tournament on their mobile device and 9 percent would download an application to track the action.
“This event is the biggest in the world of sports by far,” Roger Entner, Nielsen’s senior vice president for mobile insights, said
in a telephone interview.
“In 2010, mobile is really starting to be a medium for soccer fans worldwide to connect with the game.”
The popular FIFA soccer tournament drew more than 700 million TV viewers when it was last played in 2006, including more than 120 million U.S. viewers who watched at least one minute of World Cup telecasts, Nielsen said.
While this is the first such Nielsen survey, Entner said the numbers using cellphones to follow the event will be far higher than 2006.
“The last World Cup, there was no iPhone,” he said of Apple Inc’s <AAPL.O> popular smartphone introduced in 2007.
U.S. smartphone penetration has surged to 22 percent from 3.8 percent four years ago, he said.
In France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK the rate has grown to a range of 21 percent to 36 percent from 4 percent to 10 percent in 2006.
With more powerful, faster devices and networks, those growth trends will only continue with widespread mobile video and TV
being the next step, Entner said.
Of those surveyed, 51 percent said they intend to follow the tournament, including 84 percent in Brazil, 83 percent in Argentina, 76 percent in South Korea, 75 percent in Italy and Portugal, 69 percent in Zambia and almost two-thirds of the people in China, Nielsen said.
“It’s mind blowing. It really shows how it is a global phenomenon,” Entner said.
“We see some of the highest intended usage rates actually coming out of the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific Rim.”
Countries with high planned cellphone use to access World Cup information include Venezuela (27 percent), United States (23 percent) and Brazil (21 percent), Nielsen said.
In fact, in every country in the Middle East and Africa where people were surveyed, the rate was between 22 percent and 30 percent.
“People intend to use mobile to supplement their hunger for information about the game,” Entner said. “If you can’t watch the game live, you’re going to follow it through your mobile device.”
The rates in Europe were far lower — 3 percent in soccer powers Germany and Spain — which Entner thought made sense given most of those countries were in the same time zone as the World Cup and had a higher penetration of TV sets, meaning fans could watch the game live more easily.
Finally, 34 percent of those surveyed picked Brazil as the likely Cup winner, easily outdistancing Argentina, England and Germany.
Entner is rooting for his native Germany but has picked Brazil.
The Nigeria Football Federation has defended the recent quarter-finals draw for the 2025 President Federation Cup, saying it was conducted in line with best global practices.
A member of the NFF Executive Committee Board, George Aluo, stated that criticism over venues for the quarterfinals was unfortunate.
Going by the fixtures released on Saturday by the football body, Abakaliki FC will take on Nasarawa United in Benin, Wikki Tourists will clash with Ikorodu City in Bwari, Abuja, Akwa United and Kwara United will fight it out in Enugu, just as Area 3, Abuja, will host the encounter between Rangers International and Plateau United. All matches are scheduled for May 3rd for the emergence of semifinalists in a leg affair.
However, there have been criticisms over the Ikorodu United vs Wikki Tourist tie billed for Abuja, with a section of the press saying the venue is skewed in favour of the Bauchi team.
Aluo, also the Chairman of the Nigeria National League (NNL), said: “Some of our media men need better education, and newsmen should not be like the fans out there on the streets. In the English FA Cup, it is always a one-legged pairing that can see a club like Arsenal host Manchester United at home”.
A new contract that will see Act Sports Di Oyibo Limited managing the career of Nigerian teqball specialist, Victor Oyemade, has been signed in Lagos.
The deal gives exclusive rights to Act Sports to manage, and exercise power of attorney over issues relating to the player’s welfare as it concerns his transactions, engagement for professional, promotional, sponsorships, endorsements, and exhibition purposes.
In signing the document, both parties also agreed that proper safeguards would be put in place to protect and promote the player’s interest at all times.
Director of Act Sports, Di Oyibo Limited, Pastor Samuel Robinson Oyibo, excited about the deal, said it would benefit both parties in the area of spreading the message of the sport, as well as laying a firm foundation for his new client’s future.
“Teqball is one of the world’s fastest-growing ball sports, and Victor Oyemade is the face of the sport here in Nigeria and Africa. That is why we are excited about this partnership that gives Act Sports official authorisation to manage his career, just as it will lay the foundation for its rapid growth in our country,” Pastor Oyibo said.
Oyemade was no less excited about the deal, saying it would help his growth in the sport.
Coaches of Nigeria’s U-18 and U-20 women’s handball teams have released their final lists of 14 players ahead of the IHF Women’s Trophy Zonal Phase, which will be held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, that commenced yesterday to end 24th of this month.
The two teams have been training at the Rowe Park Sports Centre, Yaba, Lagos, for close to two weeks and departed for the competition on Thursday.
Coach John Uzor of the national U-18 team has included Omole Joy of Defender Babes and her sister Omole Shola alongside Ojie Princess of Funad Academy alongside right back Faisat Balogun in the mix while Success Duru, Chetachi Ngaodurubie of COAS Babes and Sharon Okonkwo make the cut, amongst other players.
In the U-20 team, Coach Shittu Agboola has largely stuck with the players he has been grooming since their U-18 days. The team is led by Captain Chidera Ogbusimba alongside, her Rima Queens teammates the Samuel Sisters, Amina Mohammed and Joy Peters.
Israel-based Rahima Bello, Kehinde Babatunde of ASPAC HBC of Benin Republic and Esther Mathew, who is also based in Benin Republic, keep their places.
Coach Shittu believes his team will make Nigeria proud just as they did previously at the U-18 level.
“I am really upset that Taiwo Babatunde will not be part of the team for this competition as her school, Yaba College of Technology, insisted that they will not release her for national service because of examinations.
“We did everything humanly possible to secure her release and they didn’t care that it is a national service for the interest of Nigeria and the growth of sports. We have other players who are also students and they got a release from their schools but for no tangible reason, Yabatech refused to release Taiwo despite the fact that we did everything possible to secure her release. It’s sad and I hope the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Sports Commission will work in tandem so that schools will support our goal in making Nigeria proud in sporting events”.