Cricket is second only to football in the region
ABU DHABI 26 September 2018: Cricket’s popularity is striking in a demography that has historically been inclined towards football.
According to a pan-GCC YouGov survey commissioned by UAE Exchange, more than half (51 per cent) of the people participating in survey from GCC are cricket fans.
To understand where cricket stands in terms of popularity, the sport was compared with other popular sports such as Football, Tennis, Formula 1 and Basketball.
Cricket enjoys a massive fan following in the GCC countries. As per the survey:
- 57 per cent people in the UAE
- 38 per cent people in Bahrain
- 37 per cent in Oman and
- 45 per cent people in Kuwait
“The survey reflects the growing popularity of cricket in the region, with more than half of the respondents turning out to be fans of the game. It’s really interesting to see that 32 per cent of cricket fans in the region chose cricket as their preferred sport, a very close second to football, which garnered 34 per cent of the votes. This reflects the cultural diversity in the GCC countries which is promoting the exchange of values, especially those of sports,” said Rahul Pai, Chief Operating Officer of Unimoni Group.
Unimoni Group, associated with UAE Exchange, is title sponsor of Asia Cup. It commissioned the YouGov survey to understand how audiences feel about cricket, and what they expect from the tournament.
Rohit Sharma or Hasan Ali
When asked which cricketer will emerge as the top player in the Unimoni Asia Cup, 18 per cent of respondents across GCC voted for India’s batsman Rohit Sharma, while 15 per cent voted for Pakistan’s bowler Hasan Ali.
The first Asia Cup was hosted in Sharjah in 1984. The sport has since then seen significant increase in followership, resulting in increased investment in cricket facilities across GCC. The UAE is home to three state-of-the-art stadiums in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.