By David Owen
April 12 – Spain’s La Liga is more popular in the fast-developing Middle East and North African sports region than the English Premier League, new research suggests.
The research, by YouGov Siraj/SMG Insight, found that 26 per cent of nearly 2,600 respondents cited La Liga as a regularly followed football competition against 16 per cent for the Premier League.
The online survey was conducted in 17 countries across the region, which is becoming ever more significant as a host of international sports competitions.
By far the most popular sport followed in the region was football with 58 per cent of respondents, significantly ahead of swimming – 17 percent – and motor sport, martial arts and wrestling – 15 per cent each.
The FIFA World Cup, to be hosted in the region for the first time in Qatar in 2022, was cited as the most popular football competition by 55 per cent of those interviewed, compared with 27 per cent who picked a football league from their home country.
The top three most followed so-called “non-ball” sporting events in the region were the Summer Olympic Games – followed regularly by 16 percent of respondents – the athletics World Championships with 12 percent and motor sport’s Formula One World Championship with 11 percent.
The athletics event was particularly popular in Morocco, registering a score of 34 per cent, perhaps reflecting the high number of prominent athletes, such as Hicham El Guerrouj and Nawal El Moutawakel, produced by the North African nation in recent times.
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