Emirates Cup

Emirates Cup

Wide shot of the stadium during an Emirates Cup match between Arsenal and Real Madrid, 2008
Founded	2007 (2007)
Number of teams	4
Current champions	Arsenal (4th title)
Most successful club(s)	Arsenal (4 titles)
Website	Official site
2015 Emirates Cup

The Emirates Cup is a pre-season association football invitational competition hosted by English club Arsenal at their home ground Emirates Stadium, in Holloway, London. The two-day competition was inaugurated in 2007, and was named after Arsenal's main sponsor Emirates. It has been held every summer since except 2012, which was due to the Summer Olympics being staged in London.

The competition follows a point scoring system much like the Amsterdam Tournament, whereby each team plays two matches, with three points awarded for a win, one point for a draw and none for a loss. An additional point is awarded for every goal scored; this was scrapped in 2011, but made a return for the 2013 edition. From 2009, total shots on target throughout the tournament has been used as a tiebreaker if teams were tied on points, goal difference and goals scored.

Arsenal won their inaugural tournament in 2007, and further wins followed in 2009, 2010, and most recently 2015. Hamburger SV won the trophy in 2008, New York Red Bulls won it in 2011. In 2013 the trophy was won by Galatasaray, while Valencia won the 2014 edition.

History

The inaugural tournament took place on 28 July and 29 July 2007 and featured reigning Serie A champions Internazionale, French side Paris Saint-Germain and Spanish outfit Valencia (having replaced German team Hamburg, who had to pull out of the tournament because of Intertoto Cup commitments). Arsenal did not play against Valencia, and Inter did not play against Paris Saint-Germain. The tournament was well attended with over 110,000 filling the Emirates Stadium across the two day tournament.

The 2008 Emirates Cup participants were Real Madrid, Juventus, and Hamburg.

The 2009 Emirates Cup took place on 1 August and 2 August and featured Atlético Madrid, Rangers, and Paris Saint-Germain.

The 2010 edition of the Emirates Cup took place on the weekend of 31 July and 1 August with Milan, Celtic, and Lyon joining hosts Arsenal.

The 2011 Emirates Cup featured Boca Juniors, Paris Saint-Germain and New York Red Bulls, on 30–31 July. The participation of the Red Bulls meant Thierry Henry played against his former club. This also marks the first time a Major League Soccer team participated in the Emirates Cup. The Red Bulls were the victors after beating PSG and tying Arsenal on an own goal in the 84th minute by Arsenal defender Kyle Bartley.

Due to the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Emirates Cup did not take place in the pre-season period of the 2012–13 Premier League season, as it was believed that the London infrastructure would not be able to cater for the extra 100,000 supporters that usually attend the Emirates Cup, whilst also providing resources for London 2012.

The Emirates Cup returned in 2013, staged over the weekend of 3–4 August 2013. The invited teams were Galatasaray, Porto and Napoli. The tournament reverted to the system whereby each goal was awarded with a point, as well as the conventional points system for a win, draw and loss. Galatasaray won the cup, having beaten F.C. Porto and Arsenal.

In 2014 the competition was held on the first week of August. The competitors were Europa League runners-up Benfica, Wenger's former club Monaco and Valencia. Valencia and Monaco fought out a 2–2 draw, followed by an emphatic 5–1 win for Arsenal over Benfica, in which striker Yaya Sanogo scored four goals. On the second day Benfica's problematic run continued, as Valencia beat the Portuguese side 3–1. Monaco defeated Arsenal courtesy of a first-half Radamel Falcao goal, which meant Valencia won the cup and the hosts finished second.

In 2015, the competition was held on final weekend of July. The competitors were Wolfsburg of Germany, Spain's Villareal, and French side Lyon. Villareal defeated Wolfsburg 2-1 in the first match, followed by Arsenal scoring six past Lyon, four of which came in the space of eight minutes. On the second day, Villareal defeated Lyon 2-0, but Arsenal defeated Wolfsburg 1-0 to claim their 4th title in the 8th iteration of the tournament. Lyon became the first team in the eight years of the tournament to not score at least one goal in either of their games. Every goalscorer in the tournament only scored one goal each.

Due to the extended schedule of UEFA Euro 2016 and essential pitch reconstruction works at the Emirates Stadium, the Emirates Cup will not take place in the pre-season period of the 2016–17 Premier League season.

Trophy

The sterling silver cup was made by Thomas Fattorini, whose family has produced trophies for English football since 1827. It was awarded to Arsenal, the winners of the inaugural pre-season tournament at Emirates Stadium on 29 July 2007. "We wanted to create a design that both stood out from other international football trophies and something that a club would be proud to place in their cabinet," said Fattorini.

Emirates Stadium has very iconic, asymmetrical flowing lines across the rooftop, which motivated identical lines in the original brand identity for the stadium. The base, lip and handles of the trophy mirror these, with the Emirates logo placed firmly on the face of the cup.

Media coverage

The Emirates Cup is broadcast by BT Sport in the UK, ESPN in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Latin América, United States and Brazil (2011), Sony Six in India, Al Jazeera Sports in the Middle East, Fox Soccer Channel in the United States and beIN Sports (Spain) in Spain. Although the concept was originally conceived, developed and successfully implemented (including production, sponsorship arrangement and rights distribution) by the UK division of sports marketing agency Sportfive, Arsenal awarded sports management agency Kentaro the production, sponsorship arrangement and rights distribution of the tournament in 2008. In 2010, a new deal was struck between Arsenal F.C. and MP & Silva for organising and global TV rights distribution of the tournament. Live audio broadcast is available via the Arsenal website, through their subscription based Arsenal Player service. The 2014 Emirates cup will be broadcast live in India on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD 2

Tournaments

Edition	Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third	Fourth	Notes
1	2007	Arsenal	Paris Saint-Germain	Valencia	Internazionale
2	2008	Hamburg	Real Madrid	Arsenal	Juventus
3	2009	Arsenal	Rangers	Atlético Madrid	Paris Saint-Germain
4	2010	Arsenal	Lyon	Celtic	Milan
5	2011	New York Red Bulls	Paris Saint-Germain	Arsenal	Boca Juniors
6	2013	Galatasaray	Porto	Arsenal	Napoli
7	2014	Valencia	Arsenal	Monaco	Benfica
8	2015	Arsenal	Villarreal	Wolfsburg	Lyon

Performance by team

File:Winning the Emirates Cup.jpg

Arsenal celebrating the inaugural win of the Emirates Cup.

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Third	Fourth	Total
Arsenal	4	1	3	& —	8
Valencia	1	& —	1	& —	2
Hamburg	1	& —	& —	& —	1
New York Red Bulls	1	& —	& —	& —	1
Galatasaray	1	& —	& —	& —	1
Paris Saint-Germain	& —	2	& —	1	3
Lyon	& —	1	& —	1	2
Real Madrid	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Rangers	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Porto	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Villarreal	& —	1	& —	& —	1
Atlético Madrid	& —	& —	1	& —	1
Celtic	& —	& —	1	& —	1
Monaco	& —	& —	1	& —	1
Wolfsburg	& —	& —	1	& —	1
Internazionale	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Juventus	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Milan	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Boca Juniors	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Napoli	& —	& —	& —	1	1
Benfica	& —	& —	& —	1	1

External links

• Official website