June 11th 2010. I’ve been counting down to this day for what seems like an ice age! For those of you who may not be aware, (if that’s possible) today is start of the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. This is the first tournament held in the continent of Africa and promises to be special both on and off the pitch.
The first World Cup was in 1930 and since then it has grown to become one of world’s largest sporting events, bringing people from all different corners of the world together and giving them to opportunity to interact and connect. The digital age has opened up many new ways to connect with fans across the globe and also show your passion and love for the game of football, and your team. In this article I’m going to show you a few tools/apps/websites that I hope will add something to your World Cup experience.
The World Cup will be the biggest event Twitter has seen and yesterday Fifa announced the official hashtag of the World Cup is, unsurprisingly, #WorldCup.
As well as following the hashtag there are many great accounts you should be following and Mashable has put together a list of World Cup Twitter accounts to follow throughout the tournament which can be found at here.
Twitter has also released it’s own World Cup app which allows you to keep track of what’s being said as well as view Tweets about each individual match. Along with the app, Twitter staff members have also put together a list of suggested accounts to follow during the tournament.
Terrace Tweets
Umbro has launched a World Cup version of Terrace Tweets, which debuted during the FA Cup final a few months ago. This version focuses on the England vs USA game and measures the support for both teams through Twitter as well as the mentions of player’s names and images. Check it out here and don’t forget to show your support for England or USA – if you’re looking for a place to watch the game live have a look at the U.S. Soccer Official Bar Program.
Supporterz.com
For complete disclosure this is a site that myself and Oliver Williams have set up.
The purpose of Supporterz.com is to keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in this summer’s World Cup. In order to do this, we’ve selected some of the best feeds from around the globe to bring you the latest news, views and images from the tournament (if you think we’ve missed any please let us know).
ESPN iPhone App
The ESPN 2010 Fifa World Cup iPhone app has just about everything you need for this summer’s tournament: fixtures, latest news surrounding your team and full biographies and stats for all players from the 32 teams! The app also has great social and interactive features, giving users the opportunity to get involved and participate in the prediction of games and comment on articles and blogs.
World Cup Team Tracker
The World Cup Team Tracker from the BBC is probably the best World Cup apps I’ve come across. Its slick design and easy usability make it the perfect way to track and predict your nation’s progress throughout the World Cup. Check out the app here and have a go for yourself. If you’d like to see my prediction you can do so here, I have a good feeling about this World Cup and feel this could be England’s year, which is reflected in my prediction.
I hope you find these apps and tools useful and if there are any I may have missed please let me know and feel free to suggest any Twitter accounts we should follow.
How will you be watching and keeping up-to-date with the World Cup? How has social media changed the way you feel about the tournament (or football in general)? And most importantly, who do you think will win?
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You didn't mention live streaming on http://www.univisionfutbol.com :).
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