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The performance of Morocco during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar exemplifies the «Flutie effect» or «Flutie factor», a term derived from American football player Doug Flutie. After Flutie's memorable game in 1984, applications to his college, Boston College, surged, as the school gained widespread recognition. Similarly, a new study suggests that Morocco's unexpected journey to the World Cup semi-finals has significantly boosted the country's online popularity.
Researchers from New York University (NYU) discovered that «online searches on non-sports topics related to Morocco increased by 400%» during and after the World Cup. Global search volumes surged for queries about Morocco's cuisine, culture, and tourist attractions, including «best time to visit Morocco», «visa to Morocco», and «couscous».
Analyzing worldwide online sentiment towards Morocco, the researchers observed that social media sentiment shifted from «close-to-neutral in the month prior to the World Cup to a nearly 150% increase in positive sentiment during the month-long competition».
Anasse Bari, a clinical associate professor at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the senior author of the study, commented, «Morocco not only had a remarkable run in the World Cup but also created a compelling narrative that captured global attention and sparked unprecedented interest in the nation».
Significant increase in interest in visiting Morocco and learning about its culture following the World Cup
The study, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), introduced a series of «Morocco Indices» to measure interest in the country and its World Cup team. These indices included a «Country Index», a «Jersey Index» to track searches for player jerseys, a «YouTube Index» for game highlight searches, and a «Tourism Index» to gauge interest in travel and cuisine.
Additionally, the researchers analyzed public Reddit posts in English related to Morocco, focusing on three periods: 30 days before, during, and after the 2022 World Cup. They developed a method to measure the popularity and sentiment of these posts over time.
Their findings indicated a significant increase in interest in visiting Morocco and learning about its culture following the World Cup. Specifically, searches related to travel to Morocco and Moroccan cuisine, such as couscous and tajine, saw notable increases—over 90% for couscous and 81% for tajine.
After Morocco's Atlas Lions defeated Portugal to qualify for the semi-finals, online mentions of the country surged by 4,527%. Words related to «Moroccan» increased by 3,758% during the World Cup compared to the period before. Other trending terms on Reddit included «Morocco Travel», «Morocco Food», and «Morocco Capital». While interest in most of these terms waned post-World Cup, «Morocco Travel» maintained heightened attention, with a 2,356% increase relative to the competition period.
Bari clarified, «While we do not know if the World Cup success actually prompted tourism—there is no available public data on tourism in Morocco—it did generate interest in the country beyond sports». He added, «Morocco’s 2022 success may have certainly influenced FIFA’s decision to have the country co-host the 2030 World Cup. But we now know the team's run had unforeseen benefits».
A previous study in 2023 revealed that Morocco's global brand experienced an unprecedented boost during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, enhancing its recognition, popularity, and interest across various fields, particularly sports and tourism. Presented at the African Digital Summit (ADS), this study used data from tools like Google Trends and sentiment analysis to track trends across multiple languages and regions worldwide.
