Philippines Wins Most Valuable Fans Award at the FIBA World Cup
The Philippines won a title during the FIBA Basketball World Cup: Most Valuable Fans Best Country Award
We didn’t win the top spot at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, but we got something out of it: the Most Valuable Fans (MVF) Best Country Award.
The award was given to the country with the most number of social media engagements. Of course, the Philippines being the social media capital of the world and Makati being the selfie capital of the world, it comes to no surprise that out of the 24 participating countries in the FIBA World Cup, we won the MVF Best Country Award. Filipino fans tweeted with the hashtag #Puso, which means heart.
Some of the Filipino fans who cheered for Gilas Pilipinas, win or lose
Even if we did not win, the Gilas Pilipinas team made history for winning its first game in over 40 years, after winning against Senegal by two points. Gilas lost four of the five games, but all games were lost by a margin of six points or less. And when you consider that the 34th-ranked Gilas almost beat the 3rd-ranking Argentinian team by four points, you know the team is something special.
Gilas Pilipinas Coach Chot Reyes cheering for the team using the puso (heart) symbol
Gilas even earned international fans like an ESPN anchor, foreign journalists, an Argentinian kid who exchanged his Manu Ginobili jersey for Jimmy Alapag’s, and Robin Lopez of the Portland Trail Blazers, who said he was willing to play for the team.
A video presentation of the MVF Best Country Award was shown during the halftime of the last game between the US and Serbia.
Watch the full video below:
What do you think of this award? Let us know your thoughts!
Philippines Wins Most Valuable Fans Award at the FIBA World Cup
