Emirates flies high with FIFA Under 17 World Cup

Nigeria put up a stunning performance at the Seoul FIFA World Cup Stadium on Sunday evening to claim the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, in front of a capacity crowd of 36,000 people. Emirates, an Official FIFA Partner, invited young football fans to matches throughout the tournament by donating 1,000 tickets to the Korean Youth Football Association (KYFA).

These tickets enabled possible future star football players to witness first-hand the matches between players from 24 different countries throughout the 52 match tournament.

Mike Simon, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, said: “The FIFA Under-17 World Cup has proved extremely popular with the young football fans who we invited to the tournament as guests of Emirates. As an Official Partner of FIFA we enjoy being able to help promote the sport of football to the younger audience.”

Meanwhile in China on Monday, Shanghai’s Hongkou Football Stadium played host the first match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the flagship tournament in Women’s football.

This is the first time that the FIFA Women’s World has returned to China since it was inaugurated here in 1991. The event, running from the 10th to the 30th September, brings together the top sixteen teams from the six confederations and will be held at football stadiums in Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan, Chengdu and Hangzhou.

Emirates will be inviting youth football fans and underprivileged students to join them to watch live matches in Shanghai and Tianjin, thus bringing the sport of football to a wider audience.

Emirates is an Official Partner of the FIFA World Cup with close links to FIFA and all its projects in the 2007–2014 period. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup Emirates became the first airline to be an Official Partner of the world's premier football tournament.