Cairo: the group media “BN,” the official broadcaster of the World Cup, announced that the initial viewership of the tournament opening ceremony and first round group stage matches has surpassed the one billion viewer barrier in the Middle East and South Africa region. North Africa. The channel stated in an official statement today, Wednesday, that attendance rates reflect a 113% increase over the rates seen in matches in the same round of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He added: “Preliminary crowd statistics confirm the unprecedented demand from football fans in the region for the month-long tournament, being held for the first time in the Arab world.” He explained: “The total number of spectators who attended the matches in the first round of the group stage of the tournament exceeded 907 million people, and the number of followers of the opening match which brought together the teams of Qatar and Ecuador reached 99.24 million viewers, an 86 per cent increase on the opening match of last season’s tournament, and less With a small viewership percentage of the 2018 semi-final between England and Croatia, which amounted to 99.4 million views, Netherlands and Senegal’s match in Group A saw 44.6 million people, while Iran, one of the teams representing the Middle East and North Africa region and one of the five teams, began to compete in Qatar this month, their campaign in the tournament was defeated by England in a match which was watched by over 80.7 million spectators, including 60% of the adult population in Iran, and the Welsh national team recorded their first return to World Cup football since 1958 in a game that reunited them with the United States national team ended in a positive tie, with one goal for each team, and was watched by 26.5 million television viewers. He continued: “The Saudi national team also played the second most-watched match of the tournament so far, with 99.3 million viewers witnessing the impressive historic victory over Argentina by two goals to one, including some 18 million viewers adults from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or 71 percent of the adult population of the Kingdom.” , following the Falcons’ greatest performance ever in all versions of the soccer world cup, and the following numbers of the Poland-Mexico match in Group C, which ended in a goalless draw, reached 30.7 million viewers. And he said: “The Tunisian national team match against Denmark in Group D had 63.4 million viewers in the region, including 75% of total adults in Tunisia, and the match ended in a negative draw between the two sides. While 71.9 million people attended the prime matches of the French national team, world champion, in its journey to defend the title, in which they defeated Australia by four goals to one. The statement added that more than 82.2 million people in the Middle East and North Africa region watched Japan national team’s sudden win over its four-times world champion Germany in Group E matches, while 52.4 million of followers witnessed the Spanish Matador’s crushing victory over Costa Rica 7-0. . 75.2 million spectators watched the opening match of the Morocco national team in Group F, which ended in a goalless draw against the Croatian national team, runners-up in the last edition of the tournament, while another 26.7 million watched the match of the Canadian international in his eagerly awaited return to the world football scene, which ended with a defeat by only one goal against the Belgian national team. . The match between Brazil and Serbia in Group G, which ended with two goals a zero in favoring five-time champion samba dancers, it is the third-highest-attended match of the tournament so far, with 95.6 million viewers. 11.1 million people watched the second match of the same group, in which Switzerland beat Cameroon 1-0. 64 million people watched the new historic goal of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, who became the first player to score in five consecutive editions of the FIFA World Cup, when Portugal beat Ghana 3/2, while 8.1 million people watched the previous match on the same day between Uruguay and South Korea, which ended in a draw clean sheets between the two teams. (dpa)