Wembley Stadium's iconic arch is shining brightly in the colours of Tottenham Hotspur this evening after they emerged as the winners of a week-long #OwnTheArch Twitter vote run by The Football League ahead of the Capital One Cup Final.
The #OwnTheArch Twitter vote is part of a range of activity taking place around the Final that will make it the most socially-engaged League Cup Final ever.
More than half a million tweets were posted in the innovative vote, as fans of the two finalist clubs around the world took to Twitter to get behind their side. In what was a close contest throughout, Tottenham Hotspur narrowly beat Chelsea to victory by recording 51% of the votes to Chelsea’s 49%.
The chance to decide the colour of the Wembley arch was part of a unique first in the build up to Sunday’s Final between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. The social media vote was the first time the iconic arch has been utilised in this way to let fans decide how the national stadium looks ahead of a major cup final. Tottenham Hotspur’s win also means they become the first club to have the arch lit up their colours.
Commenting on the vote result, Drew Barrand, Marketing Director at The Football League said: “The Football League is delighted to have been able to give thousands of football fans a unique opportunity to be a part of the first major showpiece Final of the season.
“We believe that, with half a million votes put forward by fans, this campaign will help to make the Capital One Cup Final the biggest UK domestic football match on social media.
“The success of the #OwnTheArch campaign is testament to our desire to find new and innovative ways to reward all fans for their ongoing support for the Capital One Cup."
The Football League tracked the use of two designated hashtags on Twitter throughout the week following the launch on Monday - #ChelseaAtWembley and #SpursAtWembley – with score updates provided on the official @CapitalOne_Cup Twitter account. The result of the vote was announced live from Wembley on Sky Sports News this evening.
Alex Trickett, Head of Sport, Twitter UK added: “Twitter is the place where people come to share in the biggest moments in the football calendar, in fact eight of the ten most-Tweeted-about UK moments in 2014 were football-related.
“It was incredible to see fans from the UK and around the world reaching for their devices to light up the Wembley arch this weekend.”
Other social media activity for the Final has seen supporters submit motivational messages for the two teams via the Capital One Cup official Facebook page, with one message for each team being selected to be displayed in the tunnel as the last thing the teams see before they walk out at Wembley.
On match day itself supporters around the world not lucky enough to have a ticket for the match will be given the chance to have their photo featured on the giant screens as Wembley with fans encouraged to post a #FinalSelfie on Instagram and Twitter.
The Capital One Cup Final kicks off at 4pm on Sunday and is exclusively live on Sky Sports 1 with coverage from 2:30pm. Past League Cup winners Thierry Henry and Jamie Redknapp will be joining Glenn Hoddle in the studio to share their insight and knowledge with viewers.
Sunday’s Final will decide the winner of the first major domestic silverware of the season and is the first one of a record 13 trophy lifts across Europe that will be live on Sky Sports over the next 14 weeks.
To celebrate the Capital One Cup Final, Sky Sports will have a day of live Sky Sports programming from Wembley Stadium with ‘Sunday Supplement’ (Sky Sports 1, 8:00am) and ‘Goals on Sunday’ (Sky Sports 1, 9:30am) also enjoying the backdrop of the home of English football.
In addition, the match has attracted global interest and will be broadcast around the world, with a record number of over 200 territories showing the game this year.