European football's very own Arab Spring

Billionaire Sheikhs taking over football clubs has become something of a trend in the world of club football. A variety of clubs, right from Manchester City to Paris Saint Germain (PSG) have had a major upturn in fortunes after they found themselves flush with cash post the takeover from their Middle-Eastern owners. But, its not only the owners, there has also been a huge influx of companies from the region who are now on board as major sponsors of some of the clubs.

We have seen shirt sponsorship deals, training kit sponsorship deals, stadium naming rights being given away and a whole lot more. And we’ve even seen some mind-numbing transfer fees being paid out for players, a lot of it perhaps not possible without a little help from the Middle-East.

Here are six leading organisations from the Arab world who have come in and had a healthy hand in the developments in European football over the past few years.

Emirates

Arsenal along with quite a few other major clubs ‘Fly Emirates’

In February 2004, Emirates Airline was announced as the main sponsor for the new Arsenal stadium at Ashburton Grove. A few months later, on October 5, 2004, Emirates Airline signed a 15-year contract with Arsenal estimated at £100 million. As part of the deal, the group secured naming rights to the stadium and a shirt sponsorship deal when the club’s deal with O2 expired at the end of the 2005–06 season.

On November 23, 2012, Arsenal and Emirates officially announced a new deal worth £150 million at the Emirates Stadium. The partnership kept Emirates as the official match and training shirt sponsor for another 5 years and it also granted the Dubai conglomerate the naming rights for Ashburton Grove until 2028.

And their reach doesn’t end there. They also sponsor numerous other European clubs, most notably European giants Real Madrid and AC Milan. The full list of clubs reads something like this – Arsenal Football Club, AC Milan, Paris Saint Germain FC, Hamburg SV, Olympiacos FC and Real Madrid C.F.

The airline signed a mega-shirt sponsorship deal with Real Madrid this season worth $39 million annually for the next five years.