beIN SPORTS, the leading sports broadcaster in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), revealed a record-breaking cumulative viewership of 93.5 million for the recent month-long FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM across the region.
beIN SPORTS broadcast all the tournament’s 64 games live and exclusive in both Arabic and English, including the final in which Spain beat England in Sydney to be crowned world champions for the first time. With select matches, both semi-finals, and the final, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, all shown on its free-to-air channel, beIN SPORTS showed once more its commitment to elevating the profile of women’s sports in the region.
Building upon its successful coverage of the 2019 tournament, beIN this year ran an engaging programming schedule on its channels, with insight and analysis from a whole host of talent, including presenters Areej Sleem and Nicky Crosby, and analysts such as former Jordan captain Ala’a Othman, Moroccan referee Fatima Zohra, and former England internationals Claire Rafferty and Jodie Taylor, both of whom reached the semi-finals of the tournament in 2015.
“When we launched our beINSPIRED initiative on the eve of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France in 2019, the aim was to help grow under-represented sports and one of our focuses was women’s football,” said Mohammad Al-Subaie, CEO of beIN – MENA. “This year’s Women’s World Cup expanded from 24 teams to 32 teams, yet what we have witnessed this past month shows that not only is interest growing in the region, but the way fans follow the game is evolving too. With a cumulative viewership of over 93 million tuning into our linear coverage from across the region, the growth of women’s football is undeniable, and we are very proud to be helping drive that.”
The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023TM raised the bar once more for what is expected of women’s football and its grandest showcase. The tournament was filled with upsets and underdog stories, happiness and heartbreak. Almost two million fans attended games – up by more than 600,000 on the previous record – and got to watch a record 164 goals and the likes of the Philippines, Republic of Ireland, Portugal, and Morocco make their debuts on the world stage.
Morocco – the tournament’s unique representative of the Arab World – made headlines as they not only progressed through their group at the expense of two-time champions Germany, but also highlighted the sport’s inclusiveness when Nouhaila Benzina became the first player to wear a hijab at a World Cup. Other memorable moments included the reigning champions United States being eliminated on penalties by Sweden, Jamaica drawing with France and later knocking out Brazil, and co-hosts Australia coming within 30 minutes of a World Cup final on home soil.
With players having returned to their domestic clubs, their attention can now turn to their national leagues and continental competitions. All but one of the 11 Spanish players who started in the World Cup final will be competing in this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League, which kicks off again on 6 September. And, once again, beIN SPORTS is the only place in the region to watch all the action live and exclusive.
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About beIN MEDIA GROUP
beIN MEDIA GROUP is a leading independent global media group and one of the foremost sports & entertainment networks in the world. The group distributes and produces an unrivalled array of entertainment, live sport and major international events across 5 continents, 40 countries and in 9 different languages spanning Europe, North America, Asia, Australasia and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). beIN MEDIA GROUP’s flagship sports network, beIN SPORTS, holds the single largest portfolio of sports rights of any global broadcaster; and through its iconic MIRAMAX film studio, beIN holds an extensive library of Hollywood blockbusters while having a growing presence in series and movies production and distribution, as well as in the digital space. beIN MEDIA GROUP acquired Digiturk, the leading pay-tv operator in Turkey, in August 2016.
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