MILAN, 20 May 2005 — Asharq Al-Awsat, the largest circulating Arabic daily in the world and a sister publication of Arab News, will provide a daily three-page sports feast from a leading Italian daily. The special coverage will start tomorrow.
The daily’s sports supplement Alam Alriadah has won exclusive rights to publish reports from La Gazetta dello Sport, a 120-year-old Italian sports newspaper. La Gazetta sells 500,000 copies daily and the circulation rises when major sports events take place, especially in Europe.
Alam Alriadah will publish exclusive reports, interviews and sports features prepared by La Gazetta, making it the first sports tie-up of its kind in the Middle East. The daily three-pages will feature exclusive stories from the Italian and other European soccer leagues, stories and background information on famous players in Europe and also news on the transfers in soccer, in addition to special articles from experts, especially on football.
Yasser Alghaslan, media services director at the Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), recently signed an agreement for exclusive and simultaneous coverage of sports events with Giorgio Riva, director of digital business and syndication at RCS Quotidiani, publisher of La Gazetta dello Sport, Giorgio Riva.
“The move aims at presenting quality products to our readers,” Asharq Al-Awsat said, saying that the agreement was signed on instructions of Prince Faisal Bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG). The idea was the brainchild of Tariq Alhomayed, the editor in chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, it added.
