The Summer Olympics Tops YouGov’s 2022 Sports Buzz Rankings In UAE

The Summer Olympics dethroned its nearest rival FIFA World Cup in YouGov’s 2022 Sports Buzz Rankings in the UAE to become the sports property with the most positive Buzz among the residents in the country (39.9). The quadrennial mega-event outscored the FIFA World Cup (that now holds the second position with a buzz score of 33.6) by more than six points.

YouGov SportsIndex measures the public’s perception of sports brands on a daily basis across a range of metrics. The rankings in YouGov’s 2022 Buzz Report are based on the Buzz scores, which measures whether respondents have heard something positive or negative about a brand recently.  

Formula 1 makes a strong showing to appear in third place (23.6) in our ranking. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which took place in December, was the deciding race for both the drivers’ and the constructors’ championships. The winners were eventually determined by a finish which saw Max Verstappen overtake challenger Lewis Hamilton on the final lap in some hotly disputed circumstances.

The FIFA Club World Cup, is placed fourth (23.5) in our ranking this year, losing out on third by just a tenth of a point. The event was earlier scheduled to take place in Japan in 2021, had to be shifted due to the Covid restrictions there and is now finally happening in the UAE in Feb 2022.

The past year also looked favorable for other football related sports properties. The UEFA Champions League climbs up one place to take the fifth position, recording a change in score of +2.9. LA Liga takes the seventh (20.6) place, while the English Premier League makes a new entry at ninth (19.1).

Besides football, cricket leagues have also featured prominently in this year’s rankings. ICC Cricket World Cup appears at sixth (21.0) and ICC World Twenty20, which took place in the UAE, occupies the tenth (19.0) place. Unfortunately, the Indian Premier League did not make it to the top ten in 2021 (it came top in 2020), even though part of the event was again hosted in the UAE following COVID outbreaks in India.

Finally, the Dubai Marathon remains in the eight position (20.2) as last year and completes the top ten list in the UAE.