BEIRUT: There is a reason why football is called the beautiful game: It unites people around the globe through their shared love of the game. Everywhere around the world supporters of various countries’ teams become brothers and sisters for a few weeks every four years, sharing their joys with the wins and disappointments with the losses as the World Cup progresses through its stages.
Lebanon is no different, as members of the country’s various communities unite under the banner of their preferred teams, all other affiliations forgotten in the season of euphoric football.
This sense of unity driven by a shared passion for positive achievement reflects Coral’s own aspirations, namely to bring the Lebanese community together, to support them in every way possible, and to create opportunities that foster competitiveness and a sense of community.
The Coral World Cup Challenge, devised to run in parallel to the 64 games all the way to the finals, not only achieved all those objectives, but also provided thrills and entertainment galore. The Challenge, in fact, consisted of four different competitions, with the prizes in each of those four contests being the newest version of the highly coveted Sony PlayStation 5 console, along with two controllers and two games, one of which was FIFA 2023.
The competitions themselves were as follows: In the 24 hours preceding each game, Coral ran stories on both its Facebook and Instagram accounts inviting followers to vote for the teams they believed would win. At the end of the World Cup, on each of the Facebook and Instagram accounts, the person with the most correct answers would win one of those two PlayStation 5 consoles.
In addition, to provide those who began participating in the contests later than others an opportunity to win, Coral also held raffles with the names of all participants on each of the two social media platforms in order to award another two consoles. The raffles were held under the supervision of representatives from the Lebanese National Lottery to ensure complete fairness and transparency.
The turnout exceeded all expectations as thousands of followers on Coral’s social media platforms joined the fun. With humorous and friendly banter taking place in the comments sections, the Challenge took on a life of its own, bringing the Lebanese community even closer together not only around football but also in a race again one another as each of their correct answers brought them ever closer to those valuable prizes.
Ultimately, with the World Cup over, Argentina taking the trophy home for the first time in decades and Messi capping his stellar career by winning the most exciting World Cup in years, Coral’s Challenge also concluded as A. Ghiyeh won the Facebook competition while M. Chemaly won the Instagram competition. As for the raffles, M. Triki won in the Facebook draw while C. Moueiz won in the Instagram draw. All four winners took delivery of their brand new PS5 bundles from Coral on January 3, 2023.
But in characteristic Coral fashion, the company refused to exclude anyone from the competition, which is why a fifth separate competition was held for the company’s own staff, affording them a chance to also win a PS5 console without impacting the other four contests for the general public. The internal highest score, was in fact a tie between two people, and the winner was selected through spinning the wheel in front of all employees and the winner was … IT Program Officer S. Radi!
From all of us at Coral, we thank all the participants and congratulate every person who won a PlayStation 5 in these series of competitions. We hope you enjoy them in good health and that they provide countless hours of entertainment. But, ultimately, it’s really not about the gaming consoles, but about the community coming together, competing and engaging with one another based on shared interests and common ground. We hope to provide many more opportunities in the future for such activities that will continue to draw all Lebanese together.
