The sixth edition of the International Champions Cup will start this weekend on the 20th of July, with 18 of the world’s most prestigious football clubs competing in the tournament that takes place in cities all over the globe.

The young ICC has already captured the eyes of many football fans — specifically in the United States, as the two largest crowds in U.S. soccer history have come during the event — and the cup just took another step toward global popularity.

The pre-season competition has announced it has partnered with Grabyo, a browser-based live video production company in order to help it “provide its global media teams with the tools to share in-play video highlights, whilst activating campaigns for sponsors and brand partners during this summer’s tournament.”

The cup, owned by Relevent Sports, is capitalising on the swift rise of video popularity on social media, and now the 18 clubs playing in the ICC will be able to engage with their fans on a more engaging level with a new ability to publish video content to sites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in real time.

The partnership with Grabyo will also allow the ICC to find potential revenue streams, as it will now work with sponsors and brand partners during the tournament to draw engagement through social video distribution.

It’s impossible to argue with the impact real-time videos have on an audience, as seen with their recent usage among teams competing in the World Cup and top flight leagues across Europe. It’s one thing to follow along with a Twitter account providing mere updates on the action with a few hashtags — it’s something else entirely to be able to watch a key goal, save or penalty within minutes of the event actually happening.

Video is the turn of the tide, and the ICC is smart to partner with a service capable of providing the means to cultivate more of an engrossed audience through video sharing. Now, massively popular clubs Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Juventus and Real Madrid will be able to reach their audience on an even more engaging level.

For example, in what will be one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament, Juventus will play Real Madrid in Washington D.C. For Cristiano Ronaldo, it will be his first match against the team he was identified with for so long. Imagine the shareability a last-minute Ronaldo winner would command, and the juicy engagement to be had for both Juventus and the ICC should they have a video in place just after the event.

In many ways, this is the dream scenario of social media involvement and every club taking part in the ICC will have the capability of capitalising on these moments by providing their fans with instant gratification.