More than a dozen sponsors step forward to support Masters Football Dubai Cup
Dubai, UAE: Masters Football Dubai Cup 2006, brought to the Middle East for the first time by Sport Solutions, exclusive promoters of premium sporting concepts, has had an overwhelming response from football fans as well as potential sponsors looking to support the event. The event, which will be held on April 6th 2006, will feature football legends from English Premier League giants Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea & Newcastle.
Masters Football is presented by Dubai Sports City, in association with DHL and the Courtyard Marriott at Dubai Greens Community. Official sponsors include The Aviation Club, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), The Rights Lawyers, Masafi, The Big Bus Company and Gulf Technical Printing. An unrivalled list of official Media Partners include Dubai Sports Channel, SKY Sports, Emirates Today, Time Out, Dubai Eye 103.8 FM and 92 FM.
Ali Haidary, Managing Director of Sport Solutions, said "We have received tremendous support from our sponsors who appreciate the unique exposure opportunities offered by such a high caliber sports event. As a global marketing medium, Football offers stakeholders excellent return on investment. To this effect, the Masters Football Dubai Cup 2006 will offer sponsors local, regional as well as international exposure."
Malcolm Thorpe, Marketing Director, Sports Business at Dubai Sports City said: "Our sponsorship of The Masters' Football Tournament in Dubai is the latest demonstration of our commitment to the development of new events in Dubai and to sport of football in particular. Football is one of the core sports within Dubai Sports City as evidenced by our partnership with Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) and by our plans to host major football events in our 60,000 seat multi-purpose outdoor stadium. We are pleased to be associated with Masters Football which has a long and successful track record and celebrates some of the greatest ever players. Once established here in Dubai, it would be a fantastic event for our 10,000 seat indoor stadium."
DHL UAE General Manager, David Wild, said: "We feel this is a great opportunity to become further involved in the UAE's number one popular sport at the highest level and be a key driver in supporting football events. DHL UAE is thrilled to be linked with such prestigious footballers, who have made a difference with their impressive contributions to the game's history. In addition, our involvement as the Official Courier for the Masters Football Dubai Cup has given DHL the opportunity to once again demonstrate the extent of our capacities. For this tournament we really did "move the goalposts" by bringing into play our Import Express service from the UK. We are also very excited by the special role DHL will play on the Tournament's day to help entertain all the football fans present."
Hamad M bin Mejren, Manager, Inward Missions at the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said, "The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) appreciate the unfaltering interest of the sporting world in Dubai and utilizing the world-class infrastructure and facilities for hosting prestigious sporting events. We take pride in being associated with Masters Football Dubai 2006 event which will be a major success and further raise the emirate's international profile."
"DTCM is taking advantage of Masters Football Dubai Cup to further promote and enhance the image of Dubai in the UK, as this event will be extensively covered on the British media, with 681,000 visitors from the UK in 2005, an increase of 13% over 2004. This makes the UK, the leading contributor to the number of visitors in Dubai," adds Hamad.
Mark Hill from The Rights Lawyers adds, "Being a law firm that focuses exclusively on work in the creative and sports marketing industries, to see an event like this coming to the region for the first time is magnificent. It confirms that Dubai is now a region that can attract this caliber of sporting events. The sports marketing industry is still pretty young here and it is therefore important to have quality local promoters and Sport Solutions is a perfect example."
"One of the key things in a sports marketing context is the range of benefits that are on offer to sponsors and one of the main reasons we decided to become involved in Masters Football is because Sport Solutions really go out of their way to make our involvement as a sponsor worthwhile. And on top of all of that, we get the opportunity to be involved with some of the world's greatest ever living footballers," adds Mark.
Elaine Watson, General Manager of the Courtyard by Marriott Dubai Green Community, a business and leisure hotel with superb facilities in the heart of new Dubai said, "There is a lot of synergy between this event and our brand because like the Courtyard, Masters Football is an exciting and innovative concept that's established worldwide but coming for the first time to Dubai. We hope to maximize our presence in the region and provide an experience that people will thoroughly enjoy. Furthermore, the Courtyard will provide a tranquil environment for the players to relax in preparation for the big event on the 6th of April as well as for local and international visitors coming to Dubai for the Masters Football Cup."
Masters Football, the most popular indoor sporting event in the UK is exclusively endorsed and sanctioned by the English FA and the PFA and will feature some of the biggest stars in British Football including Ian Rush, Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle, Lee Sharpe and Peter Beardsley amongst others. Masters Football events in the UK boast an average attendance of 15,000 spectators and have been broadcast to over 50 million TV viewers since 2000.
The first Masters Football Dubai Cup will be held on Thursday April 6th at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. Tickets, priced at AED 100 for Grandstand Seats and AED 250 for Premium Seats can be purchased at the Aviation Club Box Office, online at www.timeouttickets.com, through the ticket Hotline 8004669 and selected retail outlets including Timeout desk in Deira City Centre, The Big Bus Company at Wafi City as well as DHL desks at Internet City, Deira City Centre and Dubai Airport.
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Sport Solutions:
Sport Solutions has established itself as one of the Middle East's first fully integrated sports marketing company with expertise in the areas of Sport Sponsorship, Merchandising and Licensing, Concept Development, Event Management and Athlete Representation.
Sport Solutions works closely with governments and federations by assisting in the development of sports tourism initiatives, as well as providing unique content to regional broadcasters, and helping sponsors and stakeholders build and sustain brands through the successful integration of sports.
Sport Solutions are exclusive promoters of premium sporting concepts in the Region including Pro Beach Soccer Tour (PBST) in the Middle East, as well as the Masters Football tour with events already planned in the UAE and Qatar in 2006.
For media information, please contact
Shereen Dury
050 7690087
e-mail: shereen@red.ae.
For information about the event, please contact
Dhabia Al Bayaty
PR & Communications Manager
Sport Solutions FZ LLC
dhabia@sportsolutions.ae
050 667 1282.
© Press Release 2006
