Berlin

FINA/Arena Worldcup

Michael Phelps (USA) - The best swimmer ever - competed in FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2011 in Berlin  

It is my great pleasure to present you the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2012, which will comprise eight meets in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. This year, the competition will start on October 2 in the exciting city of Dubai (UAE) and will finish on November 11 in Singapore (SIN). Doha (QAT), Stockholm (SWE), Moscow (RUS), Berlin (GER), Beijing (CHN) and Tokyo (JPN) complete the list of organisers for 2012.

I have to underline the entry of Doha in these series, reinforcing the increasing importance and interest of this competition in the Middle East region, after the entry of Dubai in 2011. With the help of the FINA National Federations and Organisers of each edition, the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup became an essential rendezvous in 25m-pool for the best athletes worldwide and constitutes an additional opportunity to display a high-level Swimming event on TV screens.

Thanks to a very professional organisation, the quality and profile of this competition has continuously improved in recent years. The main reasons to this success were: the adoption of new rules related with the final ranking of the athletes, the set-up of top-level facilities worldwide, the raise in the prize money allocated to the swimmers, the effort in the areas of TV broadcasting and marketing programmes, and the association with prestigious sponsors.

All the conditions are then met for unforgettable performances, capable of mobilising the media’s coverage and of raising the attention of spectators and TV viewers worldwide. This success certainly generates an increased value and more substantial revenue, which is re-distributed to the Organisers and allows the allocation of attractive prize money to our stars.

We are therefore expecting a strong participation of Swimmers and all the necessary support from our National Member Federations.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Organisers of the eight legs of the 2012 edition for their decisive action related to the exposure, promotion and success of this competition.

I wish all the luck to the participants and the best to win.

Dr. Julio C. Maglione

FINA President