A month and a half after the start of the Premier League and the Israelis are in a frenzy. According to a survey conducted by the sports and data company 365scores, among a sample examination of about 1,500 fans from Israel, it emerges that the Premier League is the league that arouses the most interest.
52% responded that they are members of the clubs' official fan groups, 51% regularly watch matches and 9% of the respondents even go so far as to fly to matches abroad.
Among the teams attracting great interest among fans are European champions Manchester City (52%), Liverpool (50%), Manchester United (46%) and fourth place Chelsea with 42%.
The Israeli sports tech company, WSC Sports, is an inseparable part of the frenzy surrounding the opening of the league and the expectation of fans to see content and game summaries that will allow them to stay updated at all times.
The company works with about 20 broadcasters worldwide that broadcast Premier League matches and automatically produces, using its artificial intelligence platform, summaries and video content on all leading digital web platforms.
Muhammad Salah. Liverpool are in high demand, Photo: AP
Daniel Shichman, CEO and Co-Founder, said: "As sports fans we are all excited about the Premier League and happy to play a key role in creating and making relevant content accessible wherever football fans want to enjoy quality Premier League content – whether it's on websites, apps, social media or Google search."
Apart from watching games and tracking results, Israelis well represent a genre that has developed in recent years in the world in general and in Israel in particular: sports fan tourism. "The season has barely begun and we are already seeing an 'Israeli onslaught,' with Tottenham and Manor Solomon games focused on 'upgrading' the experience and adding more games that fall in close proximity," says Gal Shorer, COO of Issta Sport.
"Other packages that are being hijacked now are the packages of the holiday season in Israel, and packages of the Christmas period, a period that allows you to enjoy good football and the special atmosphere of the English street that comes with the holiday," Schorer added.
Manchester United are also attracting fans from Israel, Photo: Getty Images
Schorer believes that this is because the Premier League has become particularly attractive, with a stream of 'stars' flocking to it from all over the world, and in addition, it is the most competitive league in Europe with a large number of quality luxury teams.
"These reasons also have an 'Israeli aspect' that attracts our fans to come to the homeland of football. On the one hand, many Israelis define themselves as fans of English teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and more. And if that wasn't enough, this year the Israelis got the 'icing on the cake' – the signing of Manor Solomon at the London luxury club Tottenham," says Schorer.
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He adds: "There is a sense of madness and it seems that every football fan in Israel wants to get to watch the Israeli star juggle the best league in the world. Another prominent and unique advantage of the Premier League is the possibility of enjoying a 'multi-game package' - on one trip to London you can enjoy games of several home teams (Arsenal / Chelsea / Tottenham / West Ham / Fulham) and only a train ride of about two hours towards Liverpool or Manchester can upgrade the experience."
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