Bundesliga club FC Schalke, which launched official accounts on Chinese social media sites Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo in February, has already attracted several hundred thousand followers. On Sina Weibo, the club has more than 200,000 followers after less than two months. In addition, Schalke's Tencent Weibo account has more than 60,000 followers (FC Schalke). ... Mexican boxer Saúl Canelo Álvarez announced on his Instagram account that his fight scheduled for July 12 will not be broadcast by Mexico's Televisa (LA AFICION, 4/8). ... Portugal Telecom "has launched" two separate marketing initiatives over the last two weeks. Players from PT sponsored clubs "have been displaying different PT brands on their shirts, depending on their age, whilst the company is separately sponsoring a mixed five-a-side football competition in schools" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 4/9). ... The Int'l Paralympic Committee and Infostrada Sports, a full service sport and media company, have extended their partnership agreement for another four years until after the PyeongChang2018 Paralympic Winter Games in South Korea. Over the period, Infostrada Sports will research, collect, update, store and distribute biographical information for more than 10,000 athletes competing in major sport events organized by the IPC in its roles as an int'l federation for nine para-sports (IPC). ... UAE pay-TV network OSN "will bring all the action" from the Indian Premier League live to the fans. Twenty matches will be played in the UAE, kicking off on April 16 (GULF NEWS, 4/9).
BARCELONA MILESTONE: Barcelona announced that it has gained more than 20 million followers on social media since the start of the year. The club has added around 210,000 followers per day. Barcelona entered '14 with 110 million fans on its various social media channels. It now has more than 60 million fans on Facebook, including more than a million in Cairo, which recently became the first city to pass that milestone (Barcelona).
