Sunset+Vine (S+V), the UK-based television sports production and media company, has today announced it will produce coverage of the Riyadh Season Cup soccer tournament from the Saudi Arabian capital.
S+V is producing the Arabian studio output from the event, which begins today and encompasses three games between now and February 8. Three teams are involved – Al-Hilal, (champions of the Saudi Pro League), fellow Saudi side Al-Nassr, and Inter Miami from Major League Soccer in the US.
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The latter two sides have soccer icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, respectively, playing for them.
The host broadcaster for the event will be Alamiya Media, while the event will be covered by four networks – MBC, BeIN Sports, DAZN, and the Saudi Sports Channel.
BeIN announced its tie-up covering the event earlier, saying it would be showcasing the action across the Middle East and North Africa, Asia-Pacific, France, and Turkey (in that country, specifically through the Digiturk outlet).
BeIN also covered the 2023 edition of the tournament, which featured the same trio of sides.
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By GlobalDataS+V has said that Alamiya Media will be the key technical supplier for the event and that the presentation will all be in Arabic.
Nick Moody, S+V’s head of broadcast, has said: “We are honoured to have been chosen by Alamiya Media to produce these three programmes. It is also an acknowledgement of the editorial, creative and technical quality of our football production teams in both the UK and Italy who are coming together to deliver these productions.”
The Riyadh Season Cup forms part of the overall Riyadh Season, a festival featuring both live sport and entertainment in the capital, funded by the Saudi government. Due to Ronaldo and Messi’s participation, this year’s edition is being called The Last Dance.
Other sporting events so far during the Riyadh Season have included the staging of top-tier bouts from the world of boxing, as well as hosting the Super Cup games from both Italian and Spanish domestic soccer.
Sultan Al Muheisen, chair at Alamiya Media, added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Sunset+Vine for The Last Dance, with the high-profile, clash of titans, matches. The Riyadh Season is an important event for the city, and our target is to provide the highest international broadcast standards – there isn’t a team we could trust more to deliver expert and exciting coverage.”
Earlier this month, S+V was unveiled as having retained its host broadcaster position for the ILT20 short-form franchise cricket competition in the United Arab Emirates.
That appointment entails S+V producing a world feed, English-language pre-, post, and highlights shows, and a dedicated Hindi language feed for the league and its global rightsholder Zee TV for the 2024 edition, which began on January 19 and runs through February 17.
S+V’s client base includes broadcasters such as Amazon Prime, the BBC, Channel 4, and Channel 5, as well as sports federations including the International Cricket Council, World Rugby, the Commonwealth Games Federation, FIFA, UEFA, the FEI, UK Athletics, and World Sailing.
