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Emirates Airline has announced that it will be sponsoring the 30th GCC Club Cup, the annual tournament that brings together 12 top clubs from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.The sponsorship deal for the Gulf version of Europe's Champions League gives Emirates visibility at multiple local stadiums during the 33 matches with branding as well as advertising opportunities on key signboards. The airline will also receive hospitality rights, a statement said.It is estimated that the tournament will draw in over 200,000 spectators and will reach 20 million people watching the key TV networks that cover the event.Emirates said it flies to nine points in the six GCC countries participating in the tournament and carried over 4.3 million passengers last year to the cities.The GCC Club Cup is the latest addition to Emirates' sponsorship portfolio made of top sporting clubs, tournaments and high profile cultural events worldwide which includes Arsenal, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Paris Saint Germain (PSG), Hamburg, Olympiakos, Benfica, Arsenal Soccer Schools Dubai, the New York Cosmos and The Emirates Cup.First organised in 1982, the GCC Club Cup event is currently in its 30th edition. Matches begin this month with the final scheduled to take place on June 6.Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president commercial operations centre, said: "We see our support for this highly viewed event as an opportunity to connect with football fans across six countries in the GCC who are looking forward to cheering on their favourite clubs. This tournament will also provide us with an excellent way of communicating with football fans, as well as generating brand exposure in the nine key markets that we operate."Emirates is also the official airline and partner of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the governing body of Asian football, and has sponsorship rights to all its tournaments, including the AFC Champions League, AFC Cup and the AFC Challenge Cup, and the AFC Asian Cup as well as a number of women's and youth events.