Emirates Cup

Emirates Cup

Wide shot of the stadium during an Emirates Cup match between Arsenal and Real Madrid, 2008
Founded	2007
Number of teams	4
Current champions	Galatasaray (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Arsenal (3 titles)
Website	Official site
2013 Emirates Cup

The Emirates Cup is a pre-season association football competition, held in Holloway, London. It is hosted by Premier League club Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. The two-day competition was inaugurated in 2007, named after Arsenal's main sponsor Emirates. It has been held every summer since, with the exception of 2012, due to the Summer Olympics being staged in London.

The competition follows a point scoring system much like the Amsterdam Tournament, whereby each team plays two matches, with three points awarded for a win, one point for a draw and none for a loss. An additional point is awarded for every goal scored; this was scrapped in 2011, but made a return for the 2013 edition.^[1] From 2009, total shots on target throughout the tournament was used as a tiebreaker depending if teams were tied on points, goal difference and goals scored.

The first winners were hosts Arsenal, who are the most successful club in the tournament's history, having lifted the trophy on two other occasions. Hamburger SV won the trophy in 2008, New York Red Bulls won it in 2011. Galatasaray are the current holders of the cup.

History

The inaugural tournament took place on 28 July and 29 July 2007 and featured the hosts, as well as reigning Serie A champions Internazionale, French side Paris Saint-Germain and Spanish outfit Valencia (having replaced German team Hamburg, who had to pull out of the tournament because of Intertoto Cup commitments).^[2] Arsenal did not play against Valencia, and Inter did not play against PSG. The tournament was well attended with over 110,000 filling the Emirates Stadium across the two day tournament.

As of 2008, Emirates have since agreed to host the tournament for a further three years. The 2008 Emirates Cup participants were Real Madrid, Juventus, and Hamburg.^[3]

The 2009 Emirates Cup took place on 1 August and 2 August and featured Atlético Madrid, Rangers, and Paris Saint-Germain.

The 2010 edition of the Emirates Cup took place on the weekend of 31 July and 1 August with Milan, Celtic, and Lyon joining hosts Arsenal.^[4][5]

The 2011 Emirates Cup featured Boca Juniors, Paris Saint-Germain and New York Red Bulls, on 30–31 July.^[6] The participation of the Red Bulls meant Thierry Henry played against his former club. This also marks the first time a Major League Soccer team participated in the Emirates Cup. The Red Bulls were the victors after beating PSG and tying Arsenal on an own goal in the 84th minute by Arsenal defender Kyle Bartley.

Due to the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Emirates Cup did not take place in the pre-season period of the 2012–13 Premier League season, as it was believed that the London infrastructure would not be able to cater for the extra 100,000 supporters that usually attend the Emirates Cup, whilst also providing resources for London 2012.

Despite the tournament not being staged in the previous season, in 2013 four teams competed, including the usual inclusion of Arsenal. The competition was staged over the weekend of 3-4 August 2013. The participating teams were as Arsenal, Galatasaray, F.C. Porto and Napoli.^[7] The tournament reverted to system whereby each goal was awarded with a point, as well as the conventional points system for a win, draw and loss. Galatasaray won the cup beating F.C. Porto and the hosts, Arsenal.

Trophy

The sterling silver cup was made by Thomas Fattorini, whose family has produced trophies for English football since 1827. It was awarded to Arsenal, the winners of the inaugural pre-season tournament at Emirates Stadium on 29 July 2007.^[8] "We wanted to create a design that both stood out from other international football trophies and something that a club would be proud to place in their cabinet," said Fattorini.

Emirates Stadium has very iconic, asymmetrical flowing lines across the rooftop, which motivated identical lines in the original brand identity for the stadium. The base, lip and handles of the trophy mirror these, with the Emirates logo placed firmly on the face of the cup.^[9]

Media coverage

The Emirates Cup is broadcast by ESPN in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil (2011), Sony Six in India, Al Jazeera Sports in the Middle East, and Fox Soccer Channel in the United States. Although the concept was originally conceived, developed and successfully implemented (including production, sponsorship arrangement and rights distribution) by the UK division of sports marketing agency Sportfive, Arsenal awarded sports management agency Kentaro the production, sponsorship arrangement and rights distribution of the tournament in 2008.^[10] In 2010, a new deal was struck between Arsenal F.C. and MP & Silva for organising and global TV rights distribution of the tournament.^[11] Live audio broadcast is available via the Arsenal website, through their subscription based Arsenal Player service.

Tournaments

Edition	Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third	Fourth	Notes
1	2007	Arsenal	Paris Saint-Germain	Valencia	Inter Milan	[12]
2	2008	Hamburg	Real Madrid	Arsenal	Juventus	[12]
3	2009	Arsenal	Rangers	Atlético Madrid	Paris Saint-Germain	[12]
4	2010	Arsenal	Lyon	Celtic	Milan	[12]
5	2011	New York Red Bulls	Paris Saint-Germain	Arsenal	Boca Juniors	[12]
6	2013	Galatasaray	Porto	Arsenal	Napoli	[13]

Performance by team

Arsenal celebrating the inaugural win of the Emirates Cup.

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Third	Fourth	Total
Arsenal	3	& —	3	& —	6
Hamburg	1	& —	& —	& —	1
New York Red Bulls	1	& —	& —	& —	1
Galatasaray	1	& —	& —	& —	1
Paris Saint-Germain	& —	2	& —	1	3
Real Madrid	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Rangers	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Lyon	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Porto	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Valencia	& —	& —	1	& —	1
Atlético Madrid	& —	& —	1	& —	1
Celtic	& —	& —	1	& —	1
Inter Milan	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Juventus	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Milan	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Boca Juniors	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Napoli	& —	& —	& —	1	1

References

External links

• Official website