Football, soccer, the hooligans game - whatever you call it, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is about to help boost beer sells everywhere. This madness that only comes every four years is just two days away and I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait! The last couple weeks now my friends and I have been talking about how we’re going to follow the games. Some said they’re going to catch the first game at the International Tap House (who is opening their doors at 9am), some on the couch at home or if you’re like me, stuck at work and wishing you were at a bar at 9am. The one that really stood out to me was the answer, “On my phone.” I mean why not we do pretty much everything else on our phones and hell, if you’ve got an EVO you can even watch the match live on ESPN Mobile using Sprint TV. OK, for those of you that know me or follow Freakn’ Sweet, you know I’m a phone geek so it shouldn’t be a surprise that this got me thinking:
What are the best mobile apps for following the 2010 World Cup?
Read on to find out.
Even though I’m an Android user I’m going to try and not be biased so you iPhone and Blackberry peeps don’t have to worry.
1. Live FIFA 2010 World Cup
The features of Live FIFA 2010 World Cup for Android make this app without question my top pick. Like most of these apps you pick your favorite team and you get kept up to date on news about the team, but where this one takes the advantage is it’s live score updates for every match. You can see all of the group bracket info you could dream of as well as checkout the venues the teams will be playing at, follow the full schedule and get exclusive global news from FIFA’s official website. It features World Cup Tournament History dating back to 1930 when you need to disprove your know-it-all friend too. Another cool feature about this app is that you can follow what people are “tweeting” about with it’s integrated Twitter feed or vote in polls such as, “Who is the most underrated player in the 2010 World Cup?”
Unfortunately this app will set you back a $2.99 (thats a lot, we know) but it’s well worth it.
2. ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup
This iPhone app has it all… well almost. With it’s full schedule, you’ll never miss your team in action. To start out you pick your favorite team (or teams) so that you can easily follow all of the news surrounding them. You also get full bios and stats for each player for all 32 teams. Pretty cool feature if you want to know exactly who’s playing.
The next part of this app is geared towards the super-fans. It has extensive history of the tournament dating back to 1930, and includes an overview, trivia and controversies for each year. Sign in with your myESPN account to post comments about your team or participate in the “Fantasy Bracket Predictor,” where you can attempt to forecast the outcome of each World Cup match.
Oh, and it has a pretty slick UI.
3. Goal.com
With Goal.com’s mobile app you’ll have the entire World Cup at your fingertips, but that’s not all. The application features easy-to-navigate tabs, including:
- Live Scores
- Breaking News from across the world, fully illustrated with photographs
- All the Champions League action
- News from the major leagues of England, Italy, Spain, and many more
- The famous Goal.com Transfer Zone – get informed in time for the summer transfer window.
One of the other cool things about the Goal.com application is not only is it free, is that it’s available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile smartphones. Just head over to www.handmark.com or by going to http://m.goal.com/app directly from a mobile browser.
4. AP 2010 World Cup Coverage
The Associated Press has been covering the games since the very beginning and is committed to giving fans full news coverage. With customizable skins for each team, you can show everyone (at least everyone you show your phone to anyway) who you are rooting for. There is an easy to follow schedule feature that shows which teams are playing and at what time. Also, a photo and video feature will be updated once the tournament starts. The app also has a “venue” feature and lists a bit of history and interesting facts about all 10 stadiums where the games will be played.
Now I must say, for the iPhone I thought this app was pretty slick. However, on the Android side I was pretty disappointed. It’s only a link to a mobile site that wasn’t very impressive
5. Yahoo Mobile
OK, I know I just hated on a mobile site but I’m pretty impressed with Yahoo Mobile. I think they do a great job of getting you a clean UI with super fast load times. Yahoo has a Today section, match info with scores and team info as well. It’s definitely a great place to check for some quick updates. To see for yourself point your mobile browser to http://m.yahoo.com/worldcup
So that concludes my favorites. I can definitely tell you my HTC Hero will be running Live FIFA 2010 World Cup. How will you be following the World Cup?
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