As excitement builds in anticipation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, Sony Ericsson, the Official Mobile Handset of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, introduces a new way for football fans in South Africa to get behind their team online through a unique social networking initiative.

The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup will see the 32 teams battling it out in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, in an online tournament with a difference – it will be the fans that decide who will lift the virtual trophy. Fans will be able to participate in this exciting competition either online or via their mobile handset.

The tournament kicked off from 4 December 2009, coinciding with the draw for the group stage of the official tournament. To get South Africa through each round, fans need to show their support by Tweeting #TWCsouthafrica. The team with the most Tweets in each round will prevail and go on to the next stage, regardless of how the real team fares in South Africa.

“Sony Ericsson is dedicated to providing football fans with the best experience of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, giving them more ways to support their team, share their views and get involved with all aspects of the beautiful game,” says Sonja Shear, Market Unit Head at Sony Ericsson South Africa. “The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup will put Sony Ericsson at the heart of the first World Cup to celebrate the advent of social networking, and will be part of a series of initiatives that will enrich their experience and enable them to communicate via mobile devices like never before.”

An online stadium features on Sony Ericsson’s dedicated 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Extra Man website will showcase every stage of the tournament taking place on Twitter. Fans in South Africa can follow all the action, from viewing and posting individual Tweets about the South African team through to seeing what the loudest Tweeter in each group has to say about all the games on and off the virtual pitch. Fans simply need to go to the Extra Man website, click on the link to Twitter and get Tweeting to help take their team all the way to the final.

Tweets about the South African team are represented by the colours of the national flag in the virtual stadium – the bigger the South African flag becomes, the more popular the team and the closer they are to being crowned the winner of the Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup. The wall chart view will let fans see the progress of their team and who’s playing who in the knockout stages, so it’s easy to compare the results with the real 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup rules are as follows:

• The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup follows the same format as the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. There are group and knockout stages, including quarter finals; semi finals; and the final itself
• However, unlike the physical tournament, teams’ success in the Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup depends on how many Tweets they get.
• The more Tweets a country gets, the more fans they have and the better chance they have of progressing to the subsequent rounds
• Sony Ericsson will monitor all the activity on Twitter – from the first round draw on 4th December2009 through to the final on 11 July 2010
• A general Tweet about the South African team will win the team one point; a Tweet with #TWCsouthafrica is worth five points for the team

Sony Ericsson is uniquely placed to be a champion of football fans worldwide. Mobile communications is an integral part of the fan experience – whether watching in the stadium, at home or at a fan park, fans bring their handsets with them. Sony Ericsson will use its football partnership and expertise in mobile phone entertainment to energise and enrich the experience of consumers worldwide.

Sony Ericsson is the Official Mobile Handset of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, which arose through Sony Corporation, as the Digital Life Partner of FIFA. Sony Ericsson agreed to sub-license the category from Sony Corporation and the agreement includes all FIFA events until 2010 including the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa. The Digital Life category includes mobile handsets as well as consumer electronics; professional and broadcast AV and other equipment; personal computers; movies; music; and gaming.