How the #AsianCup2019 group stage played out on Twitter

With 2.5 million Tweets sent about the group stage, football fans have flocked to Twitter to join the fevered conversation around the biggest AFC Asian Cup to date. The official accounts @afcasiancup (English) and @afcasiancup_ar (Arabic) have been Tweeting timely updates around matches, players and the latest news around the tournament.

As for how the conversation unfolded on Twitter during the group stage, here are rankings that were compiled based on Twitter internal data:

Most mentioned athletes in #AsianCup2019 related Tweets:

1. Fahad Al-Muwallad @fahad_almowalad, Saudi Arabia

2. Yuto Nagatomo @YutoNagatomo5, Japan

3. Salem Al-Dawsari @salem_d29, Saudi Arabia

4. Salman Al-Faraj @salman_f13, Saudi Arabia

5. Ali Al-Habsi @AliAlhabsi, Saudi Arabia

6. Sunil Chhetri @chetrisunil11, India

7. Mohammed Al-Owais @mohadalowais, Saudi Arabia

8. Abdullah Al-Khaibari, Saudi Arabia

9. Hattan Bahebri @bahhbri27, Saudi Arabia

Most mentioned UAE athletes in #AsianCup2019 related Tweets:

1. Alberto Zaccheroni (coach)

2. Omar Abdulrahman (also known as Amouri) (@Amoory10)

3. Mohammed Abdulrahman

4. Khalfan Mubarak

5. Ismaeil Matar (@ismaeilmatar10)

Most Tweeted about teams:

1. Saudi Arabia (@SaudiNT)

2. India (@IndianFootball)

3. Japan (@jfa_samuraiblue)

4. Thailand (@FAThailand)

5. Iraq (@IRAQFA)

Top Tweeted days of #AsianCup2019:

1. January 8: Saudi Arabia vs North Korea and Iraq vs Vietnam

2. January 17: final day of group stage matches

3. January 6: Thailand vs India, Syria vs Palestine and Australia vs Jordan

4. January 12: Saudi Arabia vs Lebanon, Vietnam vs Iran and Yemen vs Iraq

Top Tweeted moments  - as measured in number of Tweets per minute:

1. January 6, Thailand vs India: The end of the match (India defeats Thailand 4-1)

2. January 8, Saudi Arabia vs North Korea: The end of the match (Saudi Arabia defeats North Korea 4-0)  

3. January 17, Saudi Arabia vs Qatar: Qatar midfielder Abdulaziz Hatem is shown the yellow card

4. January 17, Japan vs Uzbekistan: The end of the the match (Japan defeats Uzbekistan 2-1)

5. January 8, Saudi Arabia vs North Korea: Saudi Salem Dawsari's goal 3-0

6. January 17, Saudi Arabia vs Qatar: The end of the match (Qatar defeats Saudi Arabia 2-0)

7. January 10, Bahrain vs Thailand: The end of the match (Thailand defeats Bahrain 1-0)

8. January 12, Saudi Arabia vs Lebanon: The end of the match (Saudi Arabia defeats Lebanon 2-0)

9. January 17, Saudi Arabia vs Qatar: the start of the match

10. January 6, Syria vs Palestine: the start of the match

Event Pages

You can keep up with scores, Tweets and videos on Twitter with our dedicated Asian Cup page for the semifinal (28 - 29 Jan) and final matches (1 Feb). You can find this page at the top of your timeline, by searching for “Asian Cup”, or in Explore. Available on Twitter for iOS and Android as well as mobile.twitter.com in English and Arabic.

Exclusive live show

Goal Arabia has produced an Arabic live show; #YallaGoal Asian Cup, streamed exclusively on Twitter and sponsored by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). The live tournament episodes aim to keep football enthusiasts informed about what’s happening during the championship and include reviews and previews of the key fixtures, video and data-driven content as well as exclusive interviews from Goal Arabia. The show is available globally to Twitter’s logged-in and logged-out audience and can be viewed via @GoalAR.

https://twitter.com/GoalAR/status/1084177985886961666