Check out these great photos from the thrilling 3-day event on JBR Beach in Dubai. Organized by MBM Holdings and DUPLAYS, over 4,000 people attended the FootVolley World Cup 2011 to cheer on 32 men’s teams and 4 women’s teams from 27 countries. Brazil took home the title, defeating Paraguay in close fought match Saturday night with HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum and many other distinguished guests in attendance.

Write-up from Sport 360: “Brazilians Display Silky Samba Skills in Dubai” by Reem Abulleil

Brazilian teams stole the show at the Footvolley World Cup UAE 2011 yesterday, stunning the crowds with some mind-blowing skills at Jumeirah Beach Residence.

The sport which combines both football and volleyball originated from the beaches of Brazil and it’s no surprise they came to Dubai with nine teams in total, five men’s and four women’s.

The day started with group stage matches that were left over from Thursday, before things heated up in the last 16.

All five men’s teams from Brazil were placed in one group, which meant that Group A saw the hottest matches of the tournament. Brazil1 and Brazil2 advanced to the last-16 before they dominated in their matches against Netherlands1 and England2.

Both Brazilian teams will face-off again in the quarter-finals today.

“It’s always very tough to face another Brazilian team,” said Brazil1 star Piao. “But we are looking forward to a good match and we are hoping to give the crowd another entertaining match.”

The ladies of Brazil wowed the audience with two exhibition matches, and one of the contestants, Vanessinha, who has been playing footvolley for 11 years, said she was amazed by the reaction from the stands and how far the sport has come.

She said: “It’s so amazing to see footvolley here, and seeing people watching with surprised eyes. It makes me feel really happy because footvolley was created in Rio and now to see it being played here in Dubai by all these people, it’s just great.”

The tightest affair of the day was between Paraguay1 and Portugal2, where Paraguayans Victor and Oddi pulled off a terrific comeback to win 23-21 and book themselves a quarter-final spot against their compatriots Jesus and Quicho (Paraguay2), who beat Netherlands2.

“The tournament is number one, it’s very special,” said Victor. The UAE team comprising of Jamal Seif – also the tournament director – and Mohammed Rashed Al Sewedy had lost all their group stage matches the previous day to Spain, Norway and Uruguay, but Seif said he finds solace in the fact that the tournament has proven a big hit amongst both the players and the spectators.

“I would like to apologise for our level in the matches, but if we are talking about the level of organisation, we have done a fantastic job.

“The feedback has been great and the players and their teams explicitly told us that this is the best footvolley event they have attended across the world,” said Seif.

The UAE team is ranked 11th in the world and have won some impressive matches prior to the World Cup but unfortunately could not replicate that form in Dubai.

Alongside the FootVolley World Cup, DUPLAYS organized a 2 day beach volleyball tournament – JBR Beach Sport Fest. Enjoy these photos of the action:

DUPLAYS was proud to organize the UAE vs Duke basketball game in Dubai on 25-Aug-2011. In front of over 2,000 fans the UAE National Team played exceptionally well against one of the best teams in US college basketball, Duke.

DUPLAYS handled everything from planning, ticketing, and promotion to setup, manpower, event day management. Want DUPLAYS involved in your next large scale event? Contact us at info@duplays.com.

Enjoy these photos and videos from the game below:

Congrats to all the teams who battled it out on the courts over two days of intense streetball action in Sharjah. With 4 divisions (Men’s, Women’s, Boys’, Girls’) of teams competing for 25,000 AED in prizes, the competition was fierce and the UAE’s best ballers came out to showcase their talents.
Enjoy this slideshow of teams and action shots:
Here are some video highlights from the Slam Dunk contest! More Sharjah Streetball videos can be found on DUPLAYS YouTube channel.

For more, here’s the event page on facebook:

The DFL boys retained their title as DUPLAYS Ultimate Frisbee champions when they convincingly defeated the Dubai Flying Carpets on Monday evening at the Metropolitan fields.

DFL 10 – Fly Carpets 3.  Ryan stars as DFL retain Spin Doctors title. By Mohamed Suleman

14 June, 2010, Dubai. Nine weeks of grueling Ultimate Frisbee culminated in a re-match of last season’s final, with the Dubai Flying Carpets taking on the DFL’ ers.

Although the match did not live up to the nail-biting encounter the two teams produced last time around, high quality Ultimate was still in the cards and in the end, it was DFL who took the crown.

The game got off to a tentative start as both teams passed the disc around in search for an opening. The Carpets Patrick tried to hit Chilly going long, but the throw was just wide.

A victorious DFL team

It was DFL who got on the board first through a towering Ryan catch. But the Carpets equalized soon after through Andrea, who finished off a pretty passing play.

However, the tie did not last long as Jack set up Dina in the end-zone to get DFL up by one again. The point opened the floodgates as they started to dominate proceedings, and were soon ahead by a handful.

Chilly got one back for the Carpets when the ever-reliable Led hit him with a delectable forward-flick from a whopping forty feet.

The Carpets tried to seize on the momentum, but were met by airtight defense from the DFL boys. They restricted them to short passes and kept the disc away from their end-zone. “We tried to keep the disc moving and stay smart on defense,” said DFL’s Robin after the game.

DFL were strong offensively as well. They circulated the disc superbly and hit the open man more often than not. The height of Ryan helped as well, as he made a few smart catches closer to the stars above, than the grass below.

Paul gave the Carpets supporters’ something to cheer about when he made a splendid jump and pick in the end zone

The game ended with Chilly, who once broke the sound barrier with a forward flick, holding on to a tight catch in the end zone to salvage some pride for the Carpets.

“I think we played pretty well,” said Chilly after the game. “Congratulations to DFL, they played a great final.”

All in all, it was an enjoyable final to watch between the two best teams in the league.

The season ended with Captain Led enlightening the players as to how he invented the game of Ultimate Frisbee decades ago, and how he proudly introduced it to the ‘nation of Dubai’.

It was a cracking end to what had been a memorable season. Spin Doctors III kicks off on June 28th. Expect some more pulsating disc action from DUPLAYS, the UAE’s largest sport and social club. http://duplays.com/ultimate-frisbee

Forty-eight teams  represented 27 nations and competed in DUPLAYS 2-day 5v5 futsal tournament — the UAE Nations Cup by Gillette.

The indoor football action was intense with lots of great goals and gritty defense.  Congratulations to all the teams and a special thanks to Gillette for making the tournament possible with their generous support.

1st place: UAE Legions

2nd place: Iran Fabexi

more photos from the event below…

DUPLAYS is the UAE’s largest sport & social club with over 14,000 members.

Play sport. Be social. DUPLAYS.com

UPDATE 2010-10-20: Video highlights added below…

With Snickers’ support, DUPLAYS organized 36 footballers to play 1 match for 42 hours and 5 minutes in Doha, Qatar from May 28-30.

An official from Guinness World Records certified the event as the longest football match ever played!  After 2 months of preparation the nearly 2 days of football went surprisingly smoothly with only a few players having minor injuries.  Players slept and ate on the sidelines of the pitch, keeping a rotation that balanced playing time with rest/sleep.  The final score of the match was 293-236 — “Crunchers” (green) over the “Challengers” (orange).

City 7 TV and Sport on 7 host Graham Clews filed this video report from the match:

For more photos from the game you can visit the official Snickers website makefootballhistory.com and the Snickers WLFM facebook group.

Check out the official press release below…

Mars GCC – the leading regional manufacturer of confectionary products in the Middle East and its famous brand Snickers ® proudly announces it has stepped up to the challenge and broken the current Guinness world record for the longest football match by bringing together 36 real football fans from 10 different Arab markets to play a historical match that lasted for 42 hours and 5 minutes in Qatar. The match kicked off on Friday 28th at 8 am and ended at 2.05 am on Sunday.

Throughout the years, Snickers ® has been always associated with football. One of Snickers’ ® main aim by organizing the event is to challenge and unleash the football potential and create a tremendous amount of excitement among Arab youth in the region.

Commenting on the event was Omar Salim, Marketing Director, Mars GCC: “Snickers ® is proud to have achieved its goal in breaking the record for the world’s longest football thanks to the determination of the selected team. This accomplishment reflects the players’ high level of excitement about the game and the sense of closeness among Arab youth. Snickers ® succeeded in bringing Arab youth together to step-up to the challenge “Tahadi” and be more active while having fun and learning from others. Breaking the record by those youth echo a sense of responsibility and passion for the sport.”

This record-breaking attempt is done under the umbrella of the Snickers brand which stands for: “Don’t stop” and “Step-up”.

Mohammed Badri from KSA, one of the on-line winners of the Snickers “Make football history campaign” commented: “This has been one of the most exciting experiences of my life. I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to participate to such an enriching and unique adventure and to have bonded with mates from across the region that share the same passion for football as I do. The strong spirit of achievement we shared throughout the whole event has contributed to create very special friendships which we know will last forever.”

The game followed standard FIFA rules for a friendly match, with teams limited to 11 players on the pitch and 7 substitutes each. There was a set up for sleeping and resting and food/beverages.

There were a total of 36 players who participated in breaking the world record. Ten players were selected from users who played the online football game. The other 26 players were recruited among football fans who stepped up to the challenge.

A studied rotation was put in place to make sure no players run the risk of extreme over-exhaustion. A team of experienced sports organizers were in charge of setting schedules and managing players and their substitutions to make sure every player received adequate rest and care during the whole game.

The event was supported by City 7 TV as the exclusive media partner of the event.

Looking for a great event for your company? DUPLAYS recently held a 3-day corporate event for Johnson & Johnson in Dubai. The theme: “Making the Impossible Possible / Together MENAP”. Click below to view a photo slideshow.

Contact corporate@duplays.com for event details and packages.

On February 26, 2010, DUPLAYS held a “Beach Games” corporate event for Dubai Properties Group at JBR beach.

Want to get your company active? Contact corporate@duplays.com for event details and packages.

Enjoy the photos below from our 1st Beach Olympics and sign up for the next one on March 5th!  We had 32 teams of 8-15 participants enjoying beach games at Shoreside’s beach resort in Dubai.

At this first event we had beach volleyball, beach dodgeball, tug-of-war, great raffles prizes, and more. If you participated in Beach Olympics I, then please give us your feedback here so that we can make  Beach Olympics II even better!

Sign up now for Beach Olympics II

You can enter a full team to compete, or join as an individual or small group of friends and we’ll place you on a team. You’re guaranteed to meet new people and have a great time!

We’ve posted more photos to our DUPLAYS facebook account: http://facebook.com/DUPLAYS

Play sport. Be social. DUPLAYS.com

With DUPLAYS 1st ever Social Event / beach party on June 5th, we’ve been sorting through our best photos from past seasons.  We’ve got photos of recent champions in many sports, some even dating back to late 2007, when DUPLAYS began.  If you have some more great photos please email them to photos@duplays.com.

All DUPLAYS photos are available on Facebook (direct link) and also from the DUPLAYS.com Facebook group. Tag yourself and your teammates! Also, photos are posted on Picasaweb.

We hope you enjoy these slideshows from each photo gallery below:

American Flag Football

Basketball, Men’s

Basketball, Women’s

Beach Volleyball

Cricket

Dodgeball

Football, Men’s

Football, NikeFive Indoor

Netball

Softball

Touch Rugby

Ultimate Frisbee

Please send us your photos: photos@duplays.com
View all open leagues and sign up today to play: play in Dubai or play in Abu Dhabi.