Al-Ittihad has beaten Al-Faisaly 3-1 to win Saudi Arabia’s Kings Cup last weekend, but the football match itself was not the only spectacle inside the Stadium.
At pitch-side, there was a promotional plane with four seats, which followed the movement of the ball, just like the linesman.
According to reports, the plane was used to advertise one of the local airlines. It was placed behind advertisement board, completed with airlines slogan appearing on the board.
The plane then became a highly controversial topic in Saudi Arabia, with supporters and non-football folks both praised and criticized the concept. The idea of a promotional “aeroplane” appearing inside a stadium was lauded as a brilliant thinking-outside-the-box marketing strategy, but it was also criticized as an unnecessary distraction inside a football stadium.