Emirates to sponsor 2006 football World Cup

Emirates, one of the fastest growing international airlines and biggest sporting sponsors in the world, today confirmed another exciting development in its support for the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm) with the announcement that it has signed up as one of the main sponsors of FIFAworldcup.com, the Official Website of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany (tm), which is hosted by Yahoo!

This sponsorship gives Emirates exclusive rights to what are expected to be the hottest elements of the site: the complete Match Coverage and the Final Draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany (tm).

The Emirates brand will be featured prominently on FIFAworldcup.com, which has featured more than 800 preliminary matches for the FIFA World Cup(tm) in the run up to next year’s event in Germany since December 2003.

During the 2002 FIFA World Cup(tm) which took place in Korea and Japan, FIFAworldcup.com registered more than 2 billion page views from some 20 million unique users, and the figures for next year’s event are expected to grow substantially. That represents a huge global audience that will be exposed to Emirates, its brand and its support of the FIFA World Cup(tm).

Commenting on this exciting addition to Emirates’ FIFA World Cup(tm) portfolio, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates Chairman, said: “We are delighted to have confirmed the deal with Yahoo! And FIFA to be sponsors of FIFAworldcup.com.

“This will further contribute to building awareness of our sponsorship of the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm) in countries around the world. This shows Emirates’ commitment to becoming a truly global brand and helps us to reach the widest possible number of football fans who will be keeping in touch with the FIFA World Cup(tm) results through the site, especially when it is broadcast live during office hours.”

FIFAworldcup.com is the one-stop shop for football fans. The site is currently available in the four Official FIFA Languages (English, German, Spanish and French) and will be re-launched with a range of exciting new additions to the existing features, when the Final Draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany(tm) takes place on 9th December 2005.

Match Coverage

Yahoo! and FIFA have created the ultimate destination for fans looking for extensive coverage on the FIFA World Cup(tm), their national teams and their favourite players.

FIFAworldcup.com will cover the friendly matches of all the qualified teams as of the Final Draw extensively. This will then be culminating with the live coverage of all 64 FIFA World Cup(tm) matches on FIFAworldcup.com’s MatchCast, the most popular part of the site.

The MatchCast will allow fans to follow live match action through editorial commentary, photos, statistics and much more on FIFAworldcup.com. Fans will in addition have the opportunity to participate in a live fan chat through the MatchCast. Emirates has secured itself the naming right to this application, i.e. the Emirates Airline Match Cast.

Final Draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany(tm) The Final Draw itself will offer football fans around the world the chance to see which teams will be drawn against each other. FIFAworldcup.com will cover this live through a unique application, which will be sponsored exclusively by Emirates.

The Final Draw element of the site will feature photos, live editorial commentary as well as a fan chat, which will kick-off hours before the Final Draw Ceremony itself begins.

This event is the kick-off to the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm) itself, since the fans will know who their team is playing against and where.

The FIFAworldcup.com Team, comprising more than 80 people (incl. 50 editors) on-site in Germany throughout the tournament, will update the site around the clock with news and feature stories. The site will be Home of the FIFA World Cup(tm) and its global experience.

The Emirates Airline MatchCast area of www.fifaworldcup.com will allow fans to follow match action through minute by minute live updates, editorial commentary, photos, statistics and scores, as well as offering a live fan chat facility. This will prove one of the most popular elements of the site both in the run up the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm) and once the event kicks off in June next year.