Emirates goes for Milan return leg

Emirates Airline is back splashing the cash around Europe’s bigger football teams, signing a new €60 million ($82 million) shirt sponsorship deal with Italian heavyweights AC Milan, according to reports.

The four-year deal sees the airline replace Austrian betting group bwin (which, frankly, looks more like a typo than a name) on the front of Milan’s shirts. This will be the second time Emirates sponsored AC Milan, with the airline previously appearing on the uniform in 2007.

The Italian team, which is owned by Italian Prime Minister and all-round nice guy Silvio Berlusconi, joins Germany’s Hamburger SV, France’s Paris Saint Germain FC, and the UK’s Arsenal – which also sports Emirates branding on its stadium.

According to Reuters, the deal does not in fact include Emirates buying a stake in the club, as previously reported by other, silly, news outlets. Apparently.

Sports sponsorship has long been a favoured outlet for portions of Emirates’ sizeable marketing budget, for to better promote its European links.

The airline is still, to the best of our knowledge, in the closing stages of a major agency review, with just WPP and VCCP making it all the way through – although Campaign has previously reported that Emirates has now invited “unnamed independent agencies” to join the fray.

Jeepers.