Emirates returns to Cape Town Sevens
Cape Town, 08 December 2022: Hot off the heels of the Emirates Dubai 7s, Emirates is returning as an official sponsor of the Cape Town Sevens from 9-11 December 2022. Following the action packed rugby fever of the Emirates Dubai 7s, the Cape Town Sevens is one of the most popular live sporting events in South Africa’s event calendar. Emirates has been a steadfast supporter of this event, which forms a part of its wider investment in the sport of rugby in South Africa. The tournament also comes just in time as the airline boosts its services to Cape Town to double daily starting 1 February 2023. Emirates’ strong rugby partnerships also extend to the South African Emirates Lions and their home venue, Emirates Airline Park.
The third leg of the ten-tournament World Rugby Sevens Series, the Cape Town Sevens stretches over three days and will deliver some of the most thrilling professional men’s and women’s rugby matches welcoming some of the very best teams in the world. Along with a strong brand presence, Emirates will be activating its world-class hospitality and Emirates cabin crew will be roaming around handing out the airline’s branded caps and taking keepsake Polaroid photos with special Emirates mascots. During the Cape Town Sevens, Emirates will also be displaying the Cape Town Sevens Trophy in its exclusive hospitality suites for guests to take memento photos.
In partnership with broadcaster SABC 3 on the “Expresso Morning Show”, Emirates will be hosting a giveaway with 30 tickets up for grabs every day, providing lucky rugby fans the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to select days of the event. Fans can take part in the competition on 8 December via its website or its social media pages. The competition will be run on Expresso’s social media pages and details will be given on the show.
A grand prize will also include a ‘meet and greet with some of the Blitzboks players’. Having recently won the Dubai Sevens for the fourth time in a row and the seventh time in nine years, the Blitzboks have flown Emirates to play in Cape Town and fans will have an opportunity to meet them.
Emirates is one of the world’s biggest supporters of the sport of rugby, demonstrated by its extensive portfolio of global partnerships. The airline first sponsored Rugby World Cup 2007 in France as a Tournament Sponsor, and since then the relationship has grown to becoming a worldwide partner for the Rugby World Cup 2011, 2015, and 2019, held in New Zealand, England and Japan respectively. Emirates will continue as Worldwide Partner of Rugby World Cup 2023 in France and Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia. The airline also sponsors the jerseys of World Rugby’s Match Officials who take to the field in their Emirates ‘Fly Better’ kits.
Underscoring its commitment to the sport, Emirates has also extended its official sponsorship of the Emirates World Rugby Match Officials through to 2027, a relationship that has proven pivotal in the development and performance of elite match officials since 2013. In the airline’s home base of Dubai, the Emirates Dubai 7s tournament has been running for more than 50 years and the airline was instrumental in growing its international status when it first began its support in 1987 in cooperation with World Rugby. Through clear focus and a strong commitment from the airline, the Emirates Dubai 7s has become the largest sports event in the region.
Emirates has been serving South Africa for 27 years, and has connected over 20 million travellers to and from South Africa via Dubai and beyond to its global network, firmly establishing the airline as a long-term partner of South African aviation, tourism, and trade. It will bring new travel opportunities, choice and convenience for customers traveling to and from South Africa with additional services to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. Cape Town will be served with double daily services starting from 1 February 2023 and expand its schedule to and from Johannesburg with three daily flights from 1 March 2023. The ramp up of flights are part of the airline’s ongoing commitment to support South Africa’s economic and tourism recovery through enhanced connectivity across all of its gateways.