The Political Economy of Football V2

Probably only Red Bull do more sports sponsorship than Emirates, but the airline has a particular focus on football. It has added its branding to some of the planet’s biggest clubs: Real Madrid, Paris-Saint Germain, AC Milan, Arsenal, Benfica, Hamburg and Olympiakos. It has signed a new deal with Arsenal despite the club's faltering form. Arsenal's London location and its up market reputation (reputedly the club favoured by the Queen) outweighs any concerns about performance. Professor Simon Chadwick told Arab News: 'Look at Hamburg because Emirates are sponsoring a team who have not performed well for many, many years. But such is the importance of the city and its location internationally, it’s less about performances on the field and more about the commercial and strategic benefits of being associated with the club.' Read more about the embedded relationship between Arsenal and Emirates here: Emirates and Arsenal

Premier League clubs are keen to boost their commercial income by attracting new sponsors, not least from the lucrative and still under exploited Asian market. However, they can get themselves in hot water by doing so as Liverpool FC have found. In July they thought they had found an environmentally friendly winner when they signed up a company that produces mineral water at a Tibetan glacier. The Hong Kong-listed Tibet Water Company became the club's 'official water partner' in China in July. In return the company was promised digital media rights and access to players. However, the Free Tibet Group has started a campaign against Liverpool's partnership, arguing that by working with the company the club was in effect condoning human rights abuses stemming from China's occupation of Tibet in 1950: Campaign Beijing considers that Tibet is an inseparable part of China, although it operates as an autonomous region. The Chinese Government says that it faces a d...