Arsenal’s shirt deal with Emirates is the most-recognised sponsorship in the Premier League, according to a new report.
The ‘European Football Benchmark’ survey of 3,000 fans, conducted by the statistics portal Statista, found that 78 per cent of respondents were aware of Arsenal’s partnership with Dubai’s flagship carrier.
In joint second and third place, Virgin Media and American Express came in at 75-per-cent awareness for their partnerships with Southampton and Brighton and Hove Albion respectively.
The study also found that Arsenal’s partnership with Emirates is seen as the “best fitting” shirt deal in the Premier League, and among Arsenal supporters, nine out of 10 said they approved of the partnership.
In contrast, Asian-facing betting firms came in as the least popular and worst-fitting shirt sponsors.
At Newcastle United, for example, only 48 per cent of fans said that China-facing betting firm Fun88 is a good match for the club.
Other gambling brands such as ManBetX (Crystal Palace), M88 (Bournemouth), OPE Sports (Huddersfield) and SportPesa (Everton) proved similarly unpopular.
Along with Fun88, these brands make up of five of the league’s top 10 most-disliked sponsors, each scoring less than 2 per cent for “likeability” across all fans.