The Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) U23 Championship Qatar 2016 reached new milestones in all areas as, watched by a record number of international media. Japan clinched the title by beating Korea Republic 3-2 in a nail-biting final. Both teams qualified for the Men's Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016, with third-placed Iraq completing the Asian trio travelling to Brazil.
 
 

Sixteen teams from across the continent, from Jordan to Japan and Uzbekistan to Australia, competed at the AFC U23 Championship 2016, with Qatar as the world-class host. The tournament ran across nineteen days with 32 matches played and 103 goals scored at four state-of-the-art stadiums in the capital of Qatar, Doha.
 
 

A total of 93,639 fans attended the matches to see the future stars of Asian football in action. The average attendance was 2,926, almost tripling that of the 2013 edition in Oman. Highlighting the international interest in the tournament, a total of 1,800 visas were issued for the championship.
 
 

The AFC U23 Championship Qatar 2016 was also a media success. A total of 1,192 media representatives (HB 402, RTV 407, print & photo: 383) were accredited and all matches were broadcast live on beIN Sports, the tournament’s host broadcaster. An amazing 5,200 kg of filming equipment came into Qatar to cover the games from abroad.
 
 

The AFC’s digital media channels were very busy during the tournament, keeping fans and the media up to date around the world.  The-AFC.com had a total of 772,884 visitors with 1,193,094 sessions, and 62.4 per cent of the users were returning visitors. The total of 3,051,452 page views is 180 per cent more than the site’s average of 1,100,000 a month.
 
 

The championship had a big impact on social media, with the AFC and Qatar Local Organising Committee working tirelessly to engage with fans across the continent and beyond. The AFC’s Twitter account, @theafcdotcom, reached 12.6 million impressions during the tournament. The final match was particularly popular on Twitter, largely due to the Japanese market, with the total impressions at 2,209,327 over the 24-hour period. The reach of the AFC’s Facebook page during the tournament totalled 6,745,439. These are all “organic” numbers, as the AFC does not run paid social media campaigns.
 
 

Adding to this the fans reached by the LOC’s channels, with an overall number of 7,260,448 views and 135,366 interactions, the AFC U23 Championship Qatar 2016 was really a true international social media event.
 
 

The official mascot for the tournament, Najim the desert fox, made 29 visits across Qatar during the tournament, meeting thousands of football fans and encouraging everyone to join in with the AFC U23 Championship.
 
 

The tournament would not have been possible without the vital help of the match-day volunteers. A total of 347 volunteers took part in the championship across the four venues.
 
 

Finally, the AFC U23 Championship did not escape the interest of international scouts, with club representatives from England, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal as well as international scouting companies in attendance to watch the performances of the continent’s rising stars.

Picture Courtesy: www.the-AFC.com