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:

Classic (intense!) battle: Yosuke vs Was

3-way FINAL battle: Sean (France) vs Rene (Germany) vs Petike (Hungary)

In addition to the 24 world-class freestylers, 15 UAE freestylers competed with Bilal (video below) winning top honors as the UAE’s Best Freestyler.

Battle: Yorok vs Bilal

Fifty teams also competed in an intense 2v2 football competition. Congrats to Daredevils for their victory of Sustainable Energy — who beat team “S3” composed of top freestylers Sean (France) & Bencok (Belgium).

Daredevils vs Sustainable Energy

Sustainable Energy vs S3

S3 vs Egypt! (don’t miss Bencok’s crazy goal at 4:15 mark)

Use this window below to navigate through the full 50 video playlist

The Abu Dhabi Beaches Sports Park officially opens next week — October 3rd.  Sign up online as an individual or with a group of friends/colleagues to start playing.

Update: we’ve put up photos, a list of leagues and activities, a map and more are at duplays.com/corniche

Press release:

DUPLAYS to launch Abu Dhabi Beaches Sports Park (ADBSP) on October 3, 2010

For the first time in the capital, Abu Dhabi beaches will have organized sports and other activities during weekday evenings.

DUPLAYS, in cooperation with Abu Dhabi beaches, has developed the Abu Dhabi Beaches Sports Park with a goal to activate the Corniche and improve activity levels in the city.

DUPLAYS is looking to drive over 1,500 participants to the beach on weekday evenings through both team and individual sport activities for men and women of any skill level.

DUPLAYS.com, the central website where anyone can sign up to join, will offer many team sports such as beach volleyball, beach football, beach netball and beach rugby. In addition, training classes for yoga and pilates among others will also be offered.

DUPLAYS, the UAE’s largest sport and social club with over 18,000 members, in an effort to increase participation, will offer unique nights to allow networking at a professional level through social and healthy activity. Tuesday nights will have beach volleyball for teachers and Wednesday nights will be a social night for new residents looking to get out and get active.

One of the more unique offerings will be “Monday night, Ladies night” where women from the city can come out, play and be active in a women’s only environment. On Monday nights, the Abu Dhabi Beaches Sport Park will be reserved only for women’s activities with female administrators, referees and trainers.

Looking to get active? Go to DUPLAYS.com and sign up for your sport, evening of play, skill level and let DUPLAYS do the rest. Don’t have a team? Don’t worry. Sign up as a team or as an individual and come ready to play. To find out more, email corniche@duplays.com. Private court bookings are also available via http://duplays.com/corniche.

Derv Rao
Co-founder & Director of Operations
Duplays Sports Services JLT

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

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.

DUPLAYS is hosting the UAE Nations Cup by Gillette, a true World Cup tournament, with 48 teams playing indoor 5-aside futsal.  Each team’s player must be from the same nation.  We know that there are lots of Emirati, English, and Egyptian teams but who else is up to the challenge? With over 50 nationalities currently playing in DUPLAYS football leagues, we expect  25+ nations to compete for the title. Don’t know any countrymen? Sign up as an individual and we’ll help connect you.

Register online at http://duplays.com/gillette

Date: June 4/5
Location: Soccer Circus in Mirdif City Centre, Dubai.
Details: 48 teams, 5-aside, men >16 years of age, min 5 players/max 8
Cost: 800 AED per team, each team gets 8 Nike team kits (jerseys and shorts)
Prizes: national pride + 18,000 AED in Sun & Sand Sports vouchers for top 3 teams

• Each member of a team must be from the same nation (one team member is allowed to be a wildcard — from any country). Passports/copies must be provided on event day.
• Friday June 4 – round-robin in groups (8), Saturday June 5 – top 8 qualifiers advance to knockout stage
• All team members must sign up online. If they are not registered, they will not be permitted to play.

How do you sign up? 1. Sign up online http://duplays.com/gillette 2. Pay online or at one of the designated locations starting May 23.

Join as a team or as an individual.  Individuals — you MUST indicate your country in the comments box and if we find enough individuals from your country, we’ll place you together on a team.

Why sign up first? Registration closes June 2nd but we forecast country slots will fill up immediately. Only the first team representing each nation is guaranteed a spot. The 2nd, 3rd, etc teams per nation may be removed if a new, previously unrepresented nation signs up. We want to show the UAE’s diversity and include teams from as many nations as possible.

Which country will come out on top? Represent your nation! Sign up online: http://duplays.com/gillette

To be selected for this historic game (36  hours long!!) you can enter the DUPLAYS Fitness Challenge Event in Dubai (top finishers qualify) or show your skills online at makefootballshistory.com.

This is it, your last chance to join one of DUPLAYS 30+ new sport leagues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. New leagues begin next week — January 24th! If you haven’t yet, sign up now! …or wait until April.

This Wednesday and Saturday night we will be accepting payment (cash/cheque only) at two locations listed below. Paying this Wed or Sat guarantees your team’s (or individual) spot in the league. Teams paying in full will receive their DUPLAYS team shirts on a first-to-pay, first-to-choose basis for team shirt colours & sizes.

Payment times & locations
In Dubai at Barasti Bar, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi (Dubai Marina)
Wednesday, January 20, 7-10pm OR Saturday, January 23, 5-8pm. You are invited to come and play beach volleyball (after paying!) during those times.

In Abu Dhabi at Reem Dome @ Rawdhat (across from Zayed Sports City, off Airport Rd; if leaving Abu Dhabi then left at first lights after Carrefour).
Wednesday, January 20, 6-9pm OR Saturday, January 23, 5-8pm.

Some more notes

• Want to pay by credit card? You can! Just goto http://DUPLAYS.com, login and click the link under “my leagues”. On the league page scroll down and click the large black button that says “update my league settings”. From there you can select PayPal and use a credit card to pay.
• If you are an individual (you don’t know your team yet), your team shirts will be provided on day 1 of league play but payment must be made at one of the locations above in advance to secure your spot!
• What if you don’t pay for your league before the start date? Your spot cannot be guaranteed until payment. Also, top choices for shirt sizes and colours may no longer be available. It’s best to pay this week. Make it a fun team night out!

Team Members
All members of a team must sign up for the league online, to be eligible to play.
Why? All communications (last minute updates, scheduling, standings) are sent only to league members. Also, there is an online waiver that must be accepted in order to play.

Schedules, Rosters (Teams), Standings
Schedules and Rosters will be posted 48 hours before league start date (please check your starting dates on the league page, they may have been adjusted). Each league will send a mailer to league members only the night before games begin.

See you soon, on the court/field/sand/pitch!

Team DUPLAYS.com

Want to get fit in 2010? Looking to meet more people and make new friends? Tired of
the same old ‘after work’ routine?

If the answer is YES then joining one of our DUPLAYS nightly sport leagues is for you!

http://DUPLAYS.com

DUPLAYS has 30+ new sport leagues in 15 sports to help you keep your New Year’s resolutions. There are team sports for both recreational and competitive players, men’s, women’s and mixed sports at various levels of play so you can find something that suits your needs. A full listing of all leagues is here for Dubai and for Abu Dhabi.

Create your own team…

• Recruit your friends to play and look forward to a weekly run around
• Get your company involved: contact corporate@duplays.com
• Don’t have enough players for a full team? No worries, enter a partial team and we’ll fill the remaining spots

Need a team?

• If you don’t have a team yet, just sign up online and we’ll place you on one

New sports: ball hockey, handball, tennis & squash will each begin if we get a great response. So sign up and recruit more players to get these leagues started!

We’re hiring referees and admins for many leagues. Meet people and make some extra income. Apply online.

Not interested in weekly sports leagues? Perhaps a single-day or weekend eventinvolving sport or activity is what your company needs to rediscover that competitive fire! Contact corporate@duplays.com for ideas on events that will suit your needs.

Leagues are filling up fast!

Sign up NOW if you want to participate this season! (…or wait until April 2010!)

Team DUPLAYS