Yalla Score kicks off new wave of Football fever 29.09.2013: Arabian Gulf League, English Premier League, La Liga in star line-up to revolutionise

Arabian Gulf League, English Premier League, La Liga in star line-up to revolutionise interactive online football entertainment


A fresh wave of football fever is expected to sweep the UAE and the rest of the Middle East with the launch today of a unique new platform for the game.


Yalla Score, which is designed to revolutionise interactive online football entertainment, is forecast by its Dubai-based creators to ultimately attract millions of fans across the region.


Football supporters go to yallascore.com  to predict the outcome of games in top European and Middle East leagues, as well as the FIFA World Cup 2014.


The big attraction for fans is the chance to win trips to the World Cup and UEFA Champions League finals, and watch their favourite teams play on home turf.


According to the ‘Special One’ behind the idea, entrepreneur Ahmed El Rayes, Yalla Score can become a habitual attraction for hundreds of millions worldwide, while also helping pioneer the concept of ‘gamification’ in the Arab world.


Football fans in the UAE have a special incentive to register online before 1st November, 2013 to start predicting the outcome of  matches in the re-branded Arabian Gulf League, the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga.


They are just three of 19 competitions on the Arabic-English Yalla Score platform, which is free to register and play. Those signing up before 1st November enter a draw to win a pair of tickets to watch their favourite team play at home - flights and hotel included - and also become founding members.


El Rayes, Founder and CEO of Dubai-based Gamified Labs and a London Business School MBA graduate, said: “Yalla Score is new, it’s fun, it’s different, and it has the potential to become bigger than fantasy football, which is massively popular among the world’s 3.5 billion football fans.


“Since we gave it a soft launch two weeks ago we’ve already attracted nearly 5,000 registered users who have made more than 100,000 guesses. We’re targeting 500,000 unique visitors per month within the first few months, and expect numbers to grow many times over as the concept catches on with football fans across the region and we expand into other areas.


“Yalla Score has a big advantage over fantasy football, which requires very heavy engagement, and penalises you if you miss a week and don’t update your team. In contrast, Yalla Score offers monthly prizes. If you don’t do well one month, you can the next.”


Players guess the results of matches in their chosen league, name the goalscorers, and predict the order in which goals hit the net to accumulate points. They can compete on an international basis, or create their own groups to compete with friends, colleagues or family members.


Universities and schools can form their own groups to create internal competitions, and fans can play Yalla Score at home, on the go, or at one of the many sports cafes which will host their own events.


Live scores and results of all matches are available through streaming feeds from Stats.com. Players can also monitor changes in their standings while matches are in progress. A number of advanced features to be launched during the season will include mobile apps and real-time guessing.


The overall 2013-14 season winner will receive two tickets to next year’s FIFA World Cup final at Brazil’s Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro, with flights and hotel included. The runner up, and the and player finishing third, earn tickets to next year’s Champions League final at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon and the Europa League final at Juventus Stadium in Turin, respectively.


Monthly prizes include tickets for fans to watch their favourite teams play at home, also with flights and hotels, as well as football memorabilia and football sports gear.


“Yalla Score is unique because it gives football fans access to so many leagues and cup competitions locally, and internationally, by the level of in-depth guessing for individual games, and the quality of the prizes,” said El Rayes.


Gamified Labs is pioneering the introduction of ‘gamification’ in the Middle East. Forecast to see spending of more than $2.5 billion in the US alone by 2015, ‘gamification’ is the use of game mechanics and game design techniques in non-gaming contexts to solve problems and engage users.


Yalla Score is the first of a series of projects to be launched by the company, with others to follow based on interactive media and educational technology.


Yalla Score platform: English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, La Ligue 1,Bundesliga, Arabian Gulf League, Saudi Pro League, Saudi King Cup of Champions, Qatar Stars League, Kuwait Premier League, Egypt Premier League, UEFA Champions League, the Europa League, FIFA World Cup 2014, English FA Cup, English Carling Cup, Spain’s Copa Del Rey, Germany’s DFB Pokal and the Coppa Italia,


- Tony Lewis, Total Communications Dubai -  also photo