Sharjah’s Week of the Stars posed a simple brief with modern stakes: how do you make a multi-day cultural and sporting program feel like a must-attend destination moment and not just a collection of fixtures?
Across its latest edition, the week delivered a carefully choreographed arc of headline competition, intimate fan experiences, and camera-ready activations staged across Sharjah’s waterfronts, heritage districts, and sports venues. The result was a festival that felt both local and global for football fans who follow and idolise legendary players while also being engineered for creators. Its aim was to establish Sharjah as a leading destination for sport, culture, and discovery.
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Football legends beyond the court
Rather than anchoring energy to one stadium or one marquee match, Week of the Stars used a week-long narrative to broaden reasons to visit and stay. The calendar spread headline moments, short-format tournaments, legends showcases, as well as meet-and-greet fan activations beyond the court, with storytelling across multiple venues and places of interest within Sharjah.
The event reunited 36 legendary players, each bringing their own audience and amplified platform to promote Sharjah and put the legends back on the pitch, reaching audiences organically worldwide.
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The players: A roster with reach
Week of the Stars balanced headline names with deep roster depth so the festival felt both globally recognizable and locally engaging. It featured a mix of retired international stars, regional sporting icons, and community athletes – a blend designed to generate media attention while ensuring broad appeal across demographics and nationalities.
What made the week run perfectly was a networked delivery model. The event pulled together destination authorities, cultural institutions, sports clubs, and private partners so that Week of the Stars felt like a unified destination campaign rather than a patchwork of activations.
- Destination and governance: Emirate-level support supplied strategic direction, permissions, and funding, aligning the festival with Sharjah’s tourism and cultural objectives.
- Cultural and venue partners: Museums, heritage sites, and sports clubs hosted activations, creating crossover programming that fused sport and culture.
- Global sponsorship and support by FIFA: Officially supported by FIFA, the event was broadcast and streamed on FIFA+, taking Sharjah to millions across the globe.
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Operating as the marketing and creative agency for SCTDA, ICON MarCom Group functioned as the full-service ecosystem, from brand strategy and event branding.
Throughout the Week of the Stars, we ensured that Sharjah was not just a stage for football but a destination to discover. All 36 legendary players were taken beyond the pitch to key attractions across Sharjah – immersing them in the city’s cultural, heritage, and leisure offerings. These experiences allowed players to become ambassadors of Sharjah’s vibrant tourism landscape, helping spread the emirate’s story through their own networks and audiences.
While all players engaged with Sharjah, we went a step further for iconic legends – Kaka, Pirlo, and Cannavaro. Each was given a tailor-made cinematic journey, designed to showcase Sharjah’s unique destinations as immersive stories.
Kaka’s Journey: Kaka and his family embarked on an immersive exploration of Mleiha National Park. Beyond dune bashing and camel riding, their highlight was the UNESCO-recognized Mleiha Archaeological Centre –where they stepped back into a paleolandscape, witnessing traces of prehistoric environments and human history intertwined.
Pirlo’s Journey: Pirlo and his family, too, explored Mleiha’s paleolandscape – connecting with a time when ancient seas and life left their mark. Their journey extended to Buhais Archaeological Park – another UNESCO site – where geological layers reveal the ancient landscapes that shaped Sharjah’s story.
Cannavaro’s Journey: Cannavaro’s tour spotlighted Sharjah’s cultural richness – from Noor Island’s tranquility to the immersive Rain Room, concluding with a journey through the Islamic Civilization Museum and a culinary experience at Bait Al Lewal.
Each fam trip was crafted into a standalone cinematic story, showcasing Sharjah’s tourism sector, while placing these iconic players at the heart of each tale.
By Firas Tirhi, Founder and Managing Director – ICON MarCom Group
