Precision Football, founded by former professional footballer and UEFA-qualified coach Sonny Cobbs, is celebrating three years of operations. This milestone coincides with a strategic new partnership with the UAE Ministry of Sports, cementing its role as a key player in the country’s long-term sports infrastructure and youth development strategy.

The collaboration, signed earlier this year with Playermaker and the Ministry, formally integrates Precision Football into the UAE’s national scouting, performance tracking, and player development ecosystem. The agreement also includes the rollout of a region-first diploma programme that blends elite athletic training with accredited academic pathways, a model designed to align with global benchmarks for professional sport.

In just three years, Precision has trained more than 7,000 athletes, including Premier League talent and four players now competing with the UAE national women’s team. Its 165,000 sq ft Dubai flagship houses FIFA-grade hybrid turf, smart recovery facilities, and one of the most advanced data-driven football analysis centres in the region. Private investment in the venture has exceeded USD $10 million to date.

Precision’s proprietary tech stack integrates biometric analytics, cognitive tracking, heat mapping, and decision-tree modelling, capabilities typically only seen at top-tier European clubs. Every pass, sprint, and movement is translated into performance intelligence, giving athletes and scouts unprecedented visibility into real-time progress.

“Coaching today has moved far beyond the ball-and-whistle era. The modern game demands more – more insight, more precision, more accountability, said Sonny Cobbs, Founder and Creator of Precision Football. “At Precision, we combine instinct and experience with data and analysis to develop players in ways that were never possible before. It’s no longer just about what you see on the pitch – it’s about what the data reveals beneath it. That’s where real progress happens.”

Beyond talent, the platform is helping reposition sport as a cornerstone of national development, bridging education, health, and entertainment. While Precision’s technology is elite in standard, it’s fully embedded into its academy and youth development programmes – ensuring that the same tools used to train professionals are also shaping the next generation. It also reflects Agon Capital’s broader strategy of investing in scalable, future-forward lifestyle assets with fast ROI and cultural significance.

With expansion into Saudi Arabia in planning, and additional UAE activations expected in 2026, Precision Football is positioning itself not just as a player development platform, but as a catalyst for the region’s next-generation sports economy.

Following the news in March that AliExpress became the first exclusive global e-commerce partner of UEFA EURO 2024™, today, AliExpress, an international online retail marketplace, officially welcomes David Beckham as its new global brand ambassador. In this partnership, Beckham will help fans ‘Score More with AliExpress’ during UEFA EURO 2024™.

The global sport and lifestyle icon will help AliExpress consumers get closer to the action through a new UEFA EURO 2024^™campaign that launched today. AliExpress users will have the chance to take part in a series of interactive games to win exclusive discounts and time-limited prizes, including match tickets. AliExpress is investing millions of Euros in discounts, deals, and engagement during the games, as part of its increased investment into the global consumer experience. In addition, new and eligible AliExpress users will be entered into exclusive lucky draws with prizes to welcome them to the platform.

During the games from 14 June to 14 July, AliExpress will run an innovative ‘Shake and Win’ promotion, offering time-limited prizes following each goal of all games.

“AliExpress is helping fans get even closer to UEFA EURO 2024™ this summer, by offering them great prizes as the action takes place on the pitch,” said David Beckham.

“AliExpress is excited to welcome David Beckham as our global ambassador ahead of the Summer of Sports that is set to kick off in Europe. Whether you’re a football fan or not, I can think of no one better to show how easy it is to win with AliExpress during UEFA EURO 2024™,” said Gary Topp, European Commercial Director, AliExpress.

Football in Saudi Arabia is a matter of national pride, making the national kit just as cherished a national symbol as any other. This kit belongs to more than just the national team. It represents every individual who calls Saudi Arabia their home.

That is why, to launch the new Saudi Arabia Football Federation Kit 2023-24, Adidas brought together key players from both the men’s and women’s national teams in the ‘Weaved As One’ campaign; the footballers journeyed across the Kingdom to visit three diverse communities that share the same passion for the sport and make up the fabric of both traditional and progressive Saudi culture.

In a film conceptualized and managed by Havas Middle East, and produced by Film House, very diverse communities become the faces of the new kit launch, celebrating the fact that everyone who wears this kit, players of the squads and fans alike, is part of the Saudi National Team. In this kit, the entire Kingdom is weaved as one.

Mohammed Al-Owais, keeper of the Saudi national team, launched the kits with the professional camel racing community that has been raising camels and competing in this ancient sport for generations.

Hassan Altambakti, Abdulelah Al-Amri, Hattan Bahebri, and Al-Bandari Mubarak launched the new kits with the quickly growing gaming and e-sports community of the Kingdom which even included global e-sports champion Abdulaziz Alshehri, popularly known as Mr. Done.

Meanwhile, Farah Jefry and Dalia Adel, from the women’s national team, launched the new kits with the professional motorsports racing community, including Reem AlAboud, the youngest Saudi woman to compete in Formula E.

Leading up to the launch, a digital takeover of one of Saudi Arabia's most iconic landmarks, Al Ula, was done by replacing the interiors of the monument with a stone-carved locker room with a larger-than-life kit displayed. The stunt was thought up and overseen by Havas Middle East, using CGI by VertexCGI.

He was approached by Heinz Arabia to attend football’s biggest event on behalf of the brand through this cheeky yet impactful stunt that’s successfully getting the Heinz name inside the stadium and around the premises. Rather than spending on traditional advertising, Heinz Arabia turned to the social community and found one of the thousands of people named Heinz who can represent the iconic brand and hijack the football conversation.

Thomas is dressed in red and white, hidden in the crowd, and he’s calling on football fans to find him. Heinz is becoming the most searched-for name of the season. A stunt reminiscent of the classic ‘Where’s Waldo?’ series is transforming Doha into a giant treasure hunt for visitors. Along with a grand prize worth QR 10,000, Thomas Heinz is also offering exclusive merchandise. “I never thought my name would go viral. I mean, I’ve been referred to as Heinz Ketchup pretty often as a joke. But this… this is really something else. This is real. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience,” said Thomas. 

Commenting on the campaign, Anis Zantout, Regional Head of Digital, said, “The team at FP7, with the support of Heinz Arabia, believed in the magnitude of the idea from the very beginning. We found ways to generate cheeky yet impactful content that’s hijacking the conversation around the season as we speak – in a way that is truly unique to the Heinz brand. We also partnered with VUZ, 360-degree VR specialists who are currently documenting his journey and transforming it into an immersive streaming experience that removes all physical barriers, enabling fans to follow Thomas Heinz directly through the app, which gives them higher chances of finding him to win the many prizes we have to offer. And fans are loving it!”

There’s no denying, football is the world’s most popular sport and the Middle East is no exception. The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2020, took the world by storm from June 11 to July 11, 2021 – ending with Italy taking home the big trophy. The tournament may be over but for many brands, this was just the beginning in creating long-lasting memorable moments with their audience.

The excitement surrounding Euro 2020 fueled the passion of the sports community on TikTok which resonated greatly in the MENAT region and delivered brilliant results in a recent IPSOS study. Overall, a whopping 81% of TikTok MENAT football fans watched content created by brands on TikTok. This resulted in 76% of them putting on their creative hats and taking part in specially curated #HashtagChallenges to celebrate all things football. But that’s not all; the fan-tastic content on the platform was also a winner with 79% of the TikTok community resonating with other users’ football content and engaging with it by sharing or reposting that content.

Shant Oknayan, General Manager of Global Business Solutions METAP, TikTok said: “The great level of traction that football content gained in our community is a testament to our platform's success in enabling brands to engage more authentically with their sports audience. Brands in the region were able to stay on-trend with football lovers, share adrenaline-pumping moments, and develop outstanding campaigns that deeply resonate with the football community, delivering tangible results.”

And in honor of the UEFA 2020 Euro Cup and the love we've seen grow exponentially for football on the platform the next edition of The Creative Digest – TikTok’s bi-monthly video newsletter featuring the most innovative brand campaigns on the platform – uncovers the brand moments that scored big goals and won the hearts of their audience with football!

While TikTok was packed with joyful and entertaining content by many brands, here are three that took the experience to another level and scored big with football lovers on TikTok:

Nivea Men: When one’s favorite team is playing, specific habits and set-ups are mapped out ahead of the big game. Nivea Men opted to challenge users to share their #GameReady rituals, adding further excitement and uniting audiences, through the love for football. As part of this challenge, Nivea Men posted a video featuring Ronaldinho performing the game rituals and interacting with its men's products. This video captured the love and attention of football audiences on TikTok.

Head & Shoulders: Head & Shoulders asked all football fans to share how they celebrate their favorite football moments through the #CelebrateFootball challenge. Through this challenge, the brand reinforced its tagline " Keep an Ice Cold Head this Summer" while encouraging the community to express their love for the game.

Gillette: Gillette invited its audience to show their favorite football celebration in an engaging video, featuring the soft and fresh after-shave face of a Gillette user. Through the #CelebrateFootball challenge, Gillette reinforced its tagline, "The Best A Fan Can Get,"  by encouraging the TikTok community to celebrate the tenacious and exciting spirit of the football game.

View Football on TikTok Creative Digest here.

By Puja Pannum, managing director at Blis MENA

The World Cup: whether it’s vuvuzelas or 7-0 thrashings, it’s the sporting event of the year that is sure, as always, to have a massive global impact. As for brands, it’s a crucial time to drive awareness and sales – Coca Cola, Visa and Adidas, for example, have already partnered with Fifa. Big ad budgets are dedicated to the biggest, most memorable campaigns with great creatives and ‘always on’ strategies which continue throughout the games. So, from a MENA standpoint, how can brands tap into this opportunity using location data to maximize their takings from the beautiful game?

Football to drive footfall

First things first, it’s all about the nifty footwork. If you truly want to harness the power of the World Cup this year, you need to start by understanding as much as you can about your potential customers. You can greatly enhance this process with the help of location data. In many ways, where people go is who they are, and the data which surrounds people’s comings and goings provide a whole wealth of information beyond latitudes and longitudes. Brands looking to understand more about their potential customers can construct whole profiles about consumers from this information and make sure they only approach consumers with what they actually want.

READ: What you need to know about Facebook’s privacy disaster. Again.

Geo-fencing – setting a virtual boundary at a particular physical location and monitoring device IDs that show up there – is one of the key ways of harnessing this information. Geo-fencing sporting arenas and stadiums allow marketers to build segments of potential customers who attend sports events. You could enhance this, for example, by collecting device IDs of consumers actively purchasing sports equipment online, or visiting the FIFA website directly. During Singapore’s 2017 F1 race, for example, Blis set out to measure the effect of the event on local business. The geofencing of race locations allowed the construction of key target audiences, with these device IDs subsequently being monitored at key hotels, casinos, restaurants, and shopping malls. The results were clear, with F1 event spectators boosting business at local restaurants by 173% and local shopping malls by 82%.

But it’s not just the ‘where’s’ and ‘what’s’ that matter, but also the ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s’. When targeting sports fans’ devices, context is key. You’ll want to target them when they are out and about – at shisha cafés, hotels or at sporting venues by identifying and serving ads to your ideal consumers currently within a set distance of single or multiple defined locations. When you know potential consumers are on their feet, your ads will be more likely to drive them into shops. And if they’re at home, don’t just give up – leverage their historical location data and retarget your customer with an ad encouraging them to shop in a particular store next time they are out.

Behavioral data will also help you target an audience for maximum engagement, saving you from wasting valuable budget and turning off customers with things they don’t like, want, or need. For example, you might consider targeting females more whilst a football match is in-play, as their other half may be more distracted by the game.

Creative Football Frenzy

This kind of tailor-made, strategic thinking should also apply to your creative too. To really make the most of the audience data you have at hand, think about how it can be leveraged alongside creative, to reach the right consumer at the right time and place. A degree of awareness around the different stages of the World Cup will go a long way. Creative messages should ebb and flow as intensity and engagement change from first rounds, through to quarter and semi-finals, and of course the all-important World Cup final.

READ: Dear publishers, Google’s got news for you

What’s more, digital marketers need to make sure their creative is every bit as pleasing to the eye as the beautiful game itself. Rich media formats, video and interactive ads should all feature as part of your campaigns. Snapchat, for example, has mastered new technologies such as AR and facial recognition to create immersive ad experiences. Creative filters are especially appealing and can improve brand recall and drive engagement and sharing.

And when it comes to serving your creative ads, meaningful use of location data can help. Think about the context of your audience: which creatives are most appropriate for when potential customers are watching the game in their homes, versus when they are in a café? Dynamic local ads that draw on the specifics of a location (like the weather, or the user’s proximity to a sports venue or outlet) can give your campaign the edge.There is a range of platforms available to marketers to help achieve this. With the right attention to customer profiles, you can fine tune your personalization techniques to deliver the most engaging creative at the right time. In a campaign with adidas, for example, Blis targeted consumers at a local mall browsing for fashion and entertainment content. These consumers were targeted later with rich media advertising relevant to their location – whether near their local Adidas store or relaxing at home. The result was a 22% uplift in footfall, with 226 devices instore on one day of the campaign alone.

Thinking “glocal”  

Last but not least, making a marketing success out of the World Cup will require an international perspective. But at the same time, advertisers will need intimate knowledge of their local markets. You can’t have one without the other. When you manage both a global and local strategy at the same time, you’re thinking “glocal”.

READ: Auto brands are beating social apps at connecting with consumers

Marketers need to draw on expertise from partners who can bring the experience of running global campaigns alongside the ability to understand local markets. In practice, this means delivering dynamic creatives from around the world, shaped to fit each city according to its particular culture and identity.

Conclusion

You don’t have to be an expert at football to get the marketing right during the World Cup. But you do need to keep your eye on the ball when it comes to your target audience’s movements, and the creatives you’re planning to wow them with. With the help of compelling creatives served to the right individuals in the right context, marketers will be able to reap the rewards of one of this year’s most exciting international sporting event.

A GCC-wide study by OMD shows that 75 percent consider themselves extreme football fanatics and 65 percent of respondents claimed they would be watching it in a home – either their own or a friend’s.

But, how can these 65 percent watch it?

 The official broadcaster is Qatari-based beIN.

But, du has blocked the network for its customers.

Last year, too, following tensions between Qatar and other GCC countries, its channels were unavailable in Gulf countries.

LOOKBACK: Does Vogue Arabia really know its readers?

Replying to a user on Twitter, du said earlier today, “We are temporarily unable to show beIN sport channels and packages and we are working with our partner to restore broadcasting beIN Sports channels.”

A couple of hours later, beIN released a statement, saying, “BeIN MEDIA GROUP announces that after lengthy negotiations it has not been able to reach to this day an agreement to continue its services over DU’s Network. In light of this, the service has ceased on the Network on June 2^nd, 2018 as the contract between the parties had expired on May 31^st 2018. The GROUP has further acted in good faith by granting the Network an extension of 24 hours to conclude the renewal process and sustain the service to no avail. While beIN MEDIA Group denounces the wrongful facts contained in DU’s statement, our viewers can continue to enjoy our services over satellite, and live streaming (beIN CONNECT).”

INFOGRAPHIC: Over 80% want to try NEW brands on this platform

du has not yet responded to beIN’s statement and accusations of the “wrongful facts in du’s statement”.

At the time of writing this, it had not responded to Communicate’s request for comment.

beIN CONNECT currently offers a FIFA World Cup package for $150 valid until July 16, 2018. The subscription includes access to beIN SPORTS MAX HD1, beIN SPORTS MAX HD2, beIN SPORTS MAX HD3, beIN SPORTS MAX HD4.

Etisalat, on the other hand, has worked out a deal with beIN and is offering a separate FIFA World Cup package for AED555 not including VAT.

UPDATE:

du and beIN come to an agreement

It occurred to me when I was in Brazil for the World Cup that when the 2010 tournament kicked off in South Africa, the iPad was just a couple of months old. Apple has shifted more than 200 million tablets since then and the second-screen experience is now the norm.  By the time Mario Goetze fired Germany to World Cup glory over Argentina in Rio de Janeiro, Twitter use increased by a staggering 13,500 percent in just four years.

Not so long ago mankind was of the opinion that watching television was an activity that required total concentration. Of course, several people could benefit from a single screen, but it was a silent, solitary activity, with interaction only enjoyed in reflection. Screen time was precious and, in a three-channel world, the “television event” could bring a nation to a standstill. Royal weddings had that power, so did the Olympic and Paralympic Games and, of course, football.

Anyone over the age of 30 can recall a time when, beyond international tournaments, the only live football match shown on television was the FA Cup final. Now, despite drowning in football, our appetite for “the beautiful game” knows no limits. Football fans are now football consumers and our consumption habits have evolved accordingly. The most obvious sign of that evolution is that one screen is no longer enough.

Digital technology is the football consumer’s most loyal all; we can all eat football, sleep football and tweet football. In fact tweeting football was taken to new limits during this World Cup; the Brazil-Germany semi-final received 35.6 million tweets in the duration of the match, which is a record, easily surpassing the almost 30 million tweets recorded during January’s Super Bowl. Of course, that game was exceptional; Brazil, trounced by Germany 7-1 in a shock felt around the world. The final itself received 32.1 million tweets, peaking at nearly 619,000 per minute as the final whistle blew. Even the second semi, a tedious 0-0 draw between Holland and Argentina, received 14.2 million tweets. The game is constantly with us and the World Cup is when the football consumer gets completely consumed.

Even in the biggest stadiums on Earth only about 90,000 people can share the football experience live, but we are now obsessed by the big, live and communal event. The rise of the music festival is testament to this but football’s 90-minute burst does not translate to a long, muddy weekend at Glastonbury. The vast majority of fans experience their football communion via a screen, or two.

The second screen is now the primary screen. You can watch it, talk to it, listen to it, read it, write on it and even have a bet on it. You can tailor your second screen to suit you and we are so much more capable than the generation who turned on the television with one hand and pressed a finger to their lips on the other. A survey conducted by ESPN revealed that sports fans are 33 percent more likely to be “multi-screeners”, while 21 percent regularly use a second screen while watching a live event. Those numbers are only going to grow – a fact emphasized by FIFA’s official World Cup app being downloaded more than 70 million times.

Two or more screens are normal for fully immersive coverage of a major event. This is now; what lies ahead might seem like science fiction but the children of the 1970s are already living football Star Trek.

The football experience at the World Cup in 2018 might not require a ticket to Russia to be at the tournament. Through a screen, or some device that is still two years away from launch, the World Cup experience might be beamed to you in a three-dimensional form, but one that is being played out a thousand miles away.

The World Cup 2014 in Brazil and the run-in to the tournament have shed a new light on our industry, and the creative and executional challenges it now faces.

A few years ago, the focus would have been on big budget TV executions that blew you away. Not anymore. Take Nike, which ignored all precedents and kicked off its World Cup 2014 campaign with a five-minute online animated movie, “The Last Game”, pitting the great originals against zero-risk clones. The brand’s World Cup ad, which featured Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and a host of soccer super-stars, engaged audiences on YouTube and Facebook well before TV viewers got a look-in, with Ronaldo – Twitter’s most popular sporting hero – sharing the ad with his 26 million followers.

Nike is but one of many big brands that have adopted digital in a big way for the World Cup 2014, and that have prioritized online video over traditional TVCs for the tournament. For instance, McDonald’s went both mobile and interactive, changing, for the first time in its history, the pack design for its large and medium fries; twelve tournament-themed box designs served as entry points to an online game for fans who downloaded its augmented reality (AR) app, McDonald’s Gol. App-enabled customers played the AR game by holding the screens of their mobile devices up to the fries box.

Of course, brands are using mobile for a reason: reach. There are now 1.75 billion smartphones out of a global phone population of 4.55 billion. This creates an opportunity to put brand imagery and messaging into the pocket of every consumer with money to spend. Mobile is also an opportunity to stay close to the action. Fans want to stay in touch. They also want a chance to absorb every moment.

Our client, BeIN Sports, has responded to this consumer need by giving subscribers the chance to watch the World Cup on multiple screens, ensuring they don’t lose out on any part of the experience. You can follow the trends or you can follow the money. For the World Cup, the former and the latter boil down to the same thing.

Nike’s TV buying looks certain to drop during the tournament as it beefs up its commitment to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, while its competitor, Adidas is quite open about similar plans; during the World Cup, the brand will spend more on net promotions than on TV. About half its media expenditure will go online, up from a fifth in 2010. The current Adidas World Cup campaign is said to be the biggest ever and is getting hefty support from social media.

The changing nature of the industry landscape is clear when you compare the 2010 and 2014 tournaments. Four years back, South Africa was host and TV was king, its spend reportedly equaling more than double the outlay online.

Big brands are cagey about their budgets, but this time around, it looks like digital will come out on top. Already, some industry commentators are calling the 2014 World Cup as “the mobile World Cup”. The growing industry consensus is that a tipping point has been reached, with confident predictions that by 2018 – when the World Cup moves to Russia – web ads will attract 17 percent more media investment than TV.

It’s not just the budgets that are changing, but also the thinking. For the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Adidas is setting up so-called newsrooms in cities like Shanghai and Moscow. Copywriters, filmmakers and photographers are on hand in each center, ready to start an online conversation by posting commentary, photos and video clips. Nike plans something similar to feed social media.

Figures from social media sites suggest online is on the ball. Facebook has 1.28 billion users, and 500 million of them are said to be football fans. That’s just one platform.

All in all, there’s just one conclusion to be drawn. The game – advertising, not football – has changed. We’ve got to change with it. Raising the bar is a natural expectation in our industry. But it’s now clear that we face totally new digital, interactive and integration challenges. For years, the MENA focus has been on traditional formats – 30-second TV executions backed by outstanding work in print. Dedication to excellence in these categories enabled us to produce creative output that warrants comparison with the best in the world. We’ve brought home Cannes Lions in TV, print and the rest. Just when we thought we’d caught up with the top agencies in Europe and North America, we now have to re-adjust our sights and vision as to the direction of our industry.

We still have to aim high, but in a totally new direction.