JEDDAH, 27 June 2006 — As the summer vacations kicked in this year, the World Cup has turned out to be the most popular destination for soccer fans from across the globe and especially for Saudis.

According to Abdurrahman Al-Khair, from Saudi Arabian Airlines, the FIFA World Cup is always a popular destination irrespective of where the tournament is kept. “It is considered an excellent season for many to travel abroad,” said Al-Khair

“It is known that Europe holds some of the best World Cups,” said Fahd Al-Saidi who is presently watching the World Cup in Germany. The 26-year-old Al-Saidi said that since this is his first ever World Cup he loves experiencing the excitement of being there and cheering teams with gigantic crowds. “The joy that it brings is something that can never be forgotten,” he added.

Many soccer fans live and breathe soccer and feel flying to Germany is something mandatory in spite of the fact that the Euro is rather strong. According to Saudi Airlines 6,364 Saudis bought tickets this year to go to Frankfurt.

When the Saudi national team first participated in the 1994 World Cup over 25,000 Saudis went to the US to watch matches, this was followed by just under 6,000 soccer fans, who flew to Paris to watch the 1998 French World Cup.

During the 2002 World Cup, Saudi Airlines did not have direct flights to Korea and Japan but fans nevertheless had alternative choices. Over 38,000 fans flew via Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to go and watch the World Cup.

Some soccer enthusiasts, like Adnan Bakur, who is in his thirties, said he had went to watch the World Cup for the first time in 2002. Thrilled by what he saw and experienced he said, “It was amazing, my entire family enjoyed it and so this year we went to Germany once more.”

It is not only about attending the matches, he said, children also enjoy the feeling of sharing the excitement with thousands of people from across the world. Bakur says his children also enjoyed keeping tickets and collecting souvenirs from the various countries that participate in the World Cup.

Together with the fans, over 30 journalists and photographers from various news channels, newspapers, and magazines also flew to Germany this year to report on the World Cup.

Even though most supporters did not expect the Saudi team to perform well nevertheless many people in Saudi Arabia, who were unfortunate to not go to Germany, enjoyed the World Cup frenzy by buying brand new gigantic LCD and plasma screens with state of the art surround sound systems to watch the tournament at home with family and friends.

“It happens only once every four years,” said Abdul Rahman Hattan, a 36-year-old employee, who had shopped around looking for television sets. Hattan found it difficult to find what he wanted and had spent a lot of money fitting his living room out. “It’s worth it, and it’s the beauty of the World Cup,” he said. Hattan says that the fact that the World Cup is being aired from Germany makes the World Cup even more exciting as the time difference is not so big. “Thank God the timings are excellent,” he added.

Electronic stores are also cashing in on the World Cup excitement and stores are filled with shoppers wanting to take advantage of World Cup promotion offers and discounts.

Abdul Latif Jameel Co. for example is offering televisions and other items with free installment. Wael Bakor, a sales and marketing manager at Toshiba, said, “This offer has attracted many consumers who did not want to pay any extra cash.”

Bakor along with Panasonic Sales Engineer Kamal Fadul said that a lot of their televisions and sound system have not only been popular with home users but companies, gyms and cafes have purchased such sets.

Majed Ragaban, general manager at Philips said that LCD sets have been their most popular product during the present World Cup followed by plasma screens. “We’ve had a lot of special offers and free gifts on offer depending on what consumers have purchased. And besides discounts, free tickets have also been distributed to 50 lucky customers to go and watch the World Cup in Germany.”

Although the national team’s performance has been somewhat dismal this year nevertheless the carnival-like World Cup atmosphere in Saudi Arabia still continues. Who knows like many other soccer-loving nations maybe our loyalty to the game may eventually enable us to do something better in future tournaments.