Why Were Emirates Flight Attendants Handing Out The World Cup Trophies?

Because the world’s largest international airline paid a giant sum for it, that’s why. Emirates, along with other Gulf region airlines, has taken over sports sponsorships around the world, and this World Cup is no exception.

Emirates isn’t shy about throwing around large piles of cash to get top billing at sporting events. And it’s the TV viewers the airline is after, and the World Cup Final is as big as it gets, hence the final ceremony.

Emirates current shirt sponsorships deals with some of the hottest football clubs in the world including AC Milan, Paris St Germain, and Arsenal. It’s also been an Official FIFA Worldwide Partner since 2007 providing the airline tons of publicity during organization’s many events, including the World Cup. As a partner, it pays an estimated $25-50 million per year, along with other “partners” like Adidas , Coca-Cola Hyundai, Sony and Visa.

And while Lufthansa, the airline of the winning country Germany gets to tweet this:

https://twitter.com/lufthansa/status/488437053131329537

The biggest sponsor airline of the World Cup gets to tweet this:

Congratulations #Germany on winning the #FIFA World Cup #WorldCupFinal #GERvsARG #Götze pic.twitter.com/ncZrmuibfg

— Emirates (@emirates) July 13, 2014

Below is a list of Emirates’ partners separated by sport:

Football

• FIFA
• Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
• Arsenal FC & Emirates Stadium
• AC Milan
• Paris Saint-Germain
• Hamburger SV
• Real Madrid C.F.
• Olympiacos FC
• Arsenal Soccer Schools Dubai
• The Emirates Cup
• Zain Saudi Professional League

Rugby

• Emirates Western Force (Australia)
• USA Rugby
• HSBC Sevens World Series
• IRB Referees and Match Officials

Tennis

• Emirates Airline US Open Series
• Dubai Tennis Championships
• Rogers Cup
• BNP Paribas Open
• Internazionali BNL d’Italia

Horse Racing

• Dubai International Racing Carnival
• Dubai World Cup
• Emirates Melbourne Cup
• Emirates Singapore Derby
• Victoria Racing Club
• Title Sponsor of the Emirates
• Godolphin Horseracing Stable

Golf

• The Ryder Cup (EU)
• UBS Hong Kong Open
• DP World Tour Championship
• BMW International Open 2012 (Germany)
• Japan Open
• WGC-HSBC Champions
• Emirates Australian Open Championship
• Australian PGA Championship
• Austrian Golf Open
• Avantha Masters (India)
• Ballantine’s Championship
• Barclays Singapore Open
• Maybank Malaysian Open
• Thailand Open
• Alstom Open de France
• Irish Open
• Boeing Classic (US)

Cricket

• Durham County Cricket Club
• ICC Umpires
• Lord’s Taverners
• Deccan Chargers
• ICC Cricket World Cups
• ICC Champions Trophy
• ICC World Twenty20
• Pro Arch Tournament

Sailing

• Emirates Team New Zealand

Australian Rules Football

• Collingwood Football Club

Arts & Culture

• Melbourne Australian Symphony Orchestra
• Sydney Australian Symphony Orchestra
• San Francisco Symphony
• Dubai International Film Festival
• Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
• Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival
• KidZania
• Dubai Summer Surprises [annual shopping festival]
• Emirates Air Line [London’s first urban cable car system]

Related Skift stories on Emirates sponsorships of sports around the world:

• Gulf airlines build awareness, one sports sponsorship at a time
• Emirates Airlines’ sponsorship juggernaut enter U.S, with soccer deal
• Emirates Does More Sports, Expands Sponsorship of Golf’s European Tour