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Football in the Middle East
By investing in our performance analysis services Arab clubs are sending out a clear signal that they hope to bring a greater level of professionalism to Middle Eastern football.
With Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's Manchester City pushing for a Champions League place, Ali al-Faraj taking over at Portsmouth and Mohamed Al Fayed's Fulham playing in the Europa League, the Middle East's profile in UK football has never been higher. But the Middle East is more than a source of investment for European clubs. Over the last decade, sport, and football in particular, has been used to stimulate significant economic growth in the area. In fact, with the UAE now home to a professional football league, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi hosting F1 events and Qatar bidding to host the 2022 World Cup, sport is seen as cornerstone of future economic and cultural development in the region.
Football development:
Speaking at the recent Leaders in Football conference, the Qatar 2022 bid CEO Hassan Al Thawadi, stated that Middle Eastern clubs had much to learn from Arab involvement in European leagues, in particular how to commercialise and professionalise the game successfully and profitably. The business reasons for this are obvious. More than 30 million people walked through the turnstiles at FA Premier League and Football League grounds last season and the top 92 clubs in the country generated a staggering £2.5 billion. English football's global reach and influence is another reason for Middle Eastern investment: the FA Premier League is broadcast in 211 territories and was watched by a cumulative global audience of 4.8 billion in 2008/9.
Hassan Al Thawadi argued that current Arab business involvement in FA Premier League clubs could lead to a greater professionalism and more success for Middle Eastern clubs. “It gives people from this region direct experience of running an FA Premier League club. They can take this hugely valuable knowledge and experience and put it to use back at home.”
Al Jazira choose Prozone:
As part of this move towards greater profitability and professionalism in Arab football, many leagues and teams in the area have begun to use Prozone performance analysis services. Having already provided analysis services to both the Qatari and Omani national teams, and the Qatari club Al Sadd, we are pleased to announce that Al Jazira have recently joined Al Wahda and Al Ain as the latest Middle Eastern clubs to integrate Prozone. The Abu Dhabi club, currently leading the UAE League whose Chairman is Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour, have just signed a new contract to receive the PROZONE3 post-match analysis service.
Jordan Garbutt, Prozone’s International Business Manager commented; “The desire to partner with Prozone is clear intent from Al Jazira, and many other of the biggest clubs in the Middle East to develop professionally, and we look forward to supporting the growth of the game throughout the region.”
By investing in performance analysis services Arab clubs are sending out a clear signal that they hope to bring a greater level of professionalism to Middle Eastern football. The graph below shows a basic attacking analysis comparison; a key area of performance and the disparity between the FA Premier League and the UAE League.
By improving the product on offer, gate receipts and turnover will increase allowing Arab clubs to attract bigger name players and improve their profitability and profile worldwide.
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