LONDON – Emirates, the world’s largest international airline and Official Main Sponsor of Real Madrid, welcomed the Spanish football club onboard a specially chartered A380 flight from Madrid to Riyadh yesterday.
The iconic double-decker Airbus aircraft featured a new livery which features some of the club’s top players.
The club made their way to the Saudi capital of Riyadh ahead of the Spanish Super Cup semi-final match versus Valencia on 11 January 2023.
The bespoke fuselage decal includes a group shot of renowned Nacho Fernández, Dani Carvajal, Thibaut Courtois, Karim Benzema (center), Luka Modrić, Tony Kroos and Vini Jr and covers more than 125 square metres on each side of the aircraft.
The decal will remain on the A380 aircraft for five months with scheduled services around the world including London Heathrow, New York and Melbourne.
Emirates has been the Official Main Sponsor of Real Madrid since 2013 and the first decal featuring the club players first appeared on an Emirates A380 in 2015.
The airline recently announced it will remain the Official Main Sponsor and Official Airline Partner of Real Madrid until 2026 – making this a historic partnership and the longest shirt sponsorship in the history of LaLiga.
Emirates’ extensive sponsorship portfolio has made it one of the most recognized airline brands in the world of football. The airline continues to engage with fans worldwide, create meaningful experiences and offer world-class experiences in the air and on-ground.
Real Madrid fans from around the world can snap a picture of the new A380 decal as it makes its way around the globe to nearly 40 Emirates A380 destinations.
Emirates launched operations to Madrid in 2011 and currently serves the city with a daily flight utilising its iconic double-decker A380 aircraft.
The Spanish Super Cup
the 2023 Spanish Super Cup is set to commence Wednesday 11 January and will finish on Sunday 15 January.
This will be the third year out of four that the Spanish Super Cup is to be held in Saudi Arabia. When Riel Madrid won the trophy last year, each match for the tournament will be played in Riyadh at the King Fahd stadium.
The 2023 tournament will feature the winners and runners-up of LaLiga and the Copa del Rey tournaments of 2021-22:
- Real Madrid – 2021-22 LaLiga winners
- Barcelona – 2021-22 LaLiga runners-up
- Real Betis – 2021-22 Copa del Rey winners
- Valencia – 2021-22 Copa del Rey runners-up
The semi-finals of the cup tournament are as follows:
- Real Madrid vs Valencia: Wednesday, 11 January
- Real Betis vs Barcelona: Thursday, 12 January
And for those of you with a bent for statistics, Barcelona have previously won 13 Spanish Super Cup victories, slightly ahead of their rivals Real Madrid on 12 victories.
