The image of Cristiano Ronaldo walking off the field at Al Thumama Stadium after Portugal’s 1-0 loss to Morocco will live long in the memory. As the childhood dream of one of the greatest players of all time came to an end, tears rolled down the 37-year-old’s face. It was a sad sight for any football fan, but it is not altogether uncommon at football’s grandest showcase where for every hero cast a heart is broken.
From Pele to Paul Gascoigne, Diego Maradona to Roberto Baggio, tears – be they from joy or pain – are as common a sight at a World Cup as penalty kicks and patriotism. And that’s just the players. Images of sobbing fans, friends, and family members are also commonplace. From day one of the tournament, tissues for the tears have been in high demand.
Enter Fine Hygienic Holding (FHH). A few months before the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ kicked off in Doha on November 20, FIFA announced it had partnered with Fine Hygienic Holding, one of the world’s leading wellness groups and manufacturers of hygienic paper products. As part of the agreement, Fine was awarded the license to design, produce, and sell limited-edition packs of facial tissues commemorating the tournament. And boy have they proved popular.
To mark the first World Cup in the Middle East and North Africa, Fine’s limited-edition packs were made available in hypermarkets and supermarkets across Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and the UAE, selling quickly. Fine’s Saudi pack also highlighted an iconic moment from the previous World Cup, making the packaging more exciting and appealing to the audiences.
“For Fine Hygienic Holding, partnering with football’s world governing body during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has proved a true milestone in this company’s 60-plus year history,” said James Michael Lafferty, CEO of Fine. “We are a Middle Eastern company with headquarters both in Amman and Dubai, and we are incredibly proud to be involved and associated with what is undoubtedly such a special and positive moment in Middle East history – the first FIFA World Cup in the Arab World.
“We knew people in this region love football, so that was no surprise, but the speed of which our limited-edition tissue packs were selling is unlike anything we could imagine. They have proved to be a real success and we are delighted to be able to help football fans across the region feel closer to the game and truly part of this fantastic tournament.”
As well as licensed tissues, Fine has also been charged with providing hygiene supplies for the duration of the month-long festival of football across all stadiums, training sites, and FIFA Fan Festivals, helping ensure the highest level of hygiene for fans, teams, and players. This tournament has proved to be a welcome milestone for FIFA in that it is the body's first major global football tournament since the COVID-19 pandemic with venues operating at full capacity. Understandably then, hygiene was always going to be a major concern for stakeholders.
Given the overwhelming global support the football extravaganza received, Fine Hygienic Holding had a challenging yet exciting objective to achieve to be able to please the fans. As a successful partner of the event, Fine, with products distributed in over 80 countries across the globe, has far exceeded expectations and received praise for enhancing the experience of football fans.
