Arabic football media on phones left every other content category in the dust across the Middle East and North Africa over the past year and a half. Podcast downloads, YouTube views, and social media numbers all hit new peaks between mid-2025 and February 2026. Android devices carry 82% of this traffic across the region. Match previews with 1xBet تحميل, post-match takes, and transfer rumors all reach fans on screens that slip into a back pocket. This report covers the numbers behind that shift with data from Spotify, YouTube, and regional media trackers.

Arabic Podcasts Hit New Download Peaks

Football podcasts in Arabic pulled 88 million downloads across MENA in January 2026. The same month a year before sat at 55 million. That gap works out to a 60% rise. Spotify says Arabic sports audio added listeners faster than any other category in the region during 2025. Apple Podcasts tracked a 48% climb on its own platform over the same stretch.

Which Shows Pull the Most Listeners

Five shows take 35% of total Arabic football podcast downloads across the region. Each one comes at the sport from a different direction.

• Filgoal Podcast: 5.2 million monthly downloads with match recaps and transfer talk.
• Podeo Sports: 4.1 million, built around chats with current players and coaches.
• Al Kora Weekly: 3.8 million, European league previews every Thursday.
• Kora Cast: 3.5 million, tactical reads from former professionals.
• Yalla Shoot Talk: 3.0 million, fan debates and call-in segments.  

All five built their audiences through steady weekly schedules. Filgoal draws from an existing web platform that funnels readers toward audio episodes. Podeo Sports lands guests that rivals cannot book thanks to its media network ties. Thursday drops from Al Kora Weekly peak right before weekend matches start

YouTube Channels Replaced TV Panels

Arabic football YouTube channels pulled 4.2 billion views across MENA in 2025, per Social Blade estimates. The year before sat at 3 billion. Channels with 100,000+ subscribers grew from 180 to 260 in twelve months. Post-match reaction clips attract the most views per upload on most of these channels.

A 10-minute breakdown that goes live within two hours of a Premier League match pulls 200,000-500,000 views on mid-sized channels. Pre-match previews land at half that rate. Transfer rumor uploads spike hard during January and summer windows — some cross 1 million views within a single day. Phones handle all of this since most MENA viewers watch on mobile rather than desktop.

A 2025 Tubular Labs report ranked Arabic football media by view count across MENA phones.

Match highlights score the highest per-video numbers but run into copyright trouble on unofficial channels. Post-match analysis leads total view share because creators put up several clips per week. Tactical reads bring a smaller but stickier audience — view retention runs 25% above average for that format.

Twitter Spaces Turned Into Match Day Hangouts

Arabic Twitter Spaces about football drew 12 million unique listeners per week in January 2026. Match day rooms open 30 minutes before kickoff and stay live through full-time. Hosts pull 5,000-15,000 listeners at once during Premier League and La Liga fixtures. The format took over from group chats as the main real-time talk method for fans across the region.

A host with 200,000 followers can launch a Space and reach 8,000 listeners within 10 minutes of a goal. Post-match Spaces that start at the final whistle average 45 minutes. Champions League nights stretch sessions past 01:00 MENA time. The vibe stays relaxed — closer to friends at a café than a TV studio panel.

How Match Day Rooms Work

Hosts react to events as they happen during a game. Co-hosts drop observations between plays. Listeners request the mic after goals or red cards. Arabic football Spaces grew 70% in weekly listener counts between 2025 and early 2026. Twitter/X data from MENA ranks sports Spaces as the top category by listener hours, ahead of politics and business.

Telegram Channels Serve a Different Purpose

Telegram football groups across MENA reach 45 million combined subscribers as of February 2026. These channels push news, lineups, and match links rather than live conversation. A single post about a confirmed transfer can land in front of 500,000 people within an hour through forwards. That speed makes Telegram the first stop where many fans learn about squad moves and fresh deals.

Arabic Telegram football channels break into five types:

• News channels with transfer updates and injury reports.
• Lineup prediction channels with expected starters before each match.
• Stats channels that post league tables and scorer lists after each round.
• Discussion groups where fans argue about results and performances.
• Clip channels that share goal videos within minutes of a score.

News and clip channels hold the biggest subscriber bases. Also, Bahrain betting stats channels attract a smaller but devoted crowd that checks numbers before each round starts.

Phone App Activity Around Football

Football takes 58% of all phone-based sports app activity across MENA, per 2025 H2 Gambling Capital data. Weekend evenings between 18:00 and 22:00 stay the busiest hours across the region. Users find football pinned at the front of every app screen with live numbers that shift during matches. Patterns and Gulf state activity rose 20% in January alongside World Cup qualifier interest ahead of March fixtures.