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LONDON: Dubai’s Emirates airline and Arsenal have announced the biggest-ever sponsorship deal in the football club’s history, extending the airline’s shirt-naming rights by five years. 
The deal secures Arsenal’s longest-running shirt partnership, which started in 2006. 
Sources told Arab News the arrangement is worth £200 million ($280 million) and that it starts in 2019. The deal covers all the club’s shirts for all of its teams.
“Emirates is a great partner for Arsenal — a world-class brand with a truly global reach. The airline plays a significant role in our ambitions to extend our influence and following around the world,” Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis told media in a statement. 
The arrangement between Arsenal and Emirates Airline is an ideal fit, Nick Walford of sponsorship consultancy firm Redmandarin told Arab News. 
“London is a key destination for Emirates and Arsenal is their long-term London sponsorship platform, so a continuation of the deal makes commercial sense,” he said. 
“If they had not renewed this deal, how would this have been perceived in their competition with Etihad?”
Sponsorship deals of this magnitude are common at the top end of the English Premier League, with Manchester United raking in $74 million a year from its arrangement with Chevrolet, according to The Telegraph, and Manchester City reaping $28 million a year from Etihad Airways as part of a wider £400 million ($560 million) shirt and stadium-naming rights package. 
The boss of Emirates confirmed the airline’s commitment to Arsenal: “As a business, we are hugely committed to supporting sports all over the world and our relationship with Arsenal is no different. Our partnership with Arsenal Football Club is a great combination of two truly global brands and we’re very pleased to have extended this relationship for five more years,” Emirates President Sir Tim Clark said in a statement.
As part of the extended deal, Arsenal will fly on Emirates jets on pre-season tours. Emirates in turn will retain marketing rights to develop campaigns and initiatives around the world.
Arsenal’s north London home will continue to be known as Emirates Stadium up until 2028, as part of an extension agreed with Emirates in 2012.