The Emirates Cup is an annual two-day pre-season football tournament held at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in London, England^[1], similar in style to the Amsterdam Tournament held by AFC Ajax, and is hosted by Premier League side Arsenal.

Tournament host Arsenal is the current holder of the Trophy, who have won the trophy 2 of the past 3 years.

Much like the Amsterdam Tournament, each team will play two matches, with three points awarded for a win, one point for a draw, and a point for every goal scored. From the 2009 edition, if teams are tied on points, goal difference and goals scored, they are ranked by the total shots on target during the tournament.

The inaugural tournament took place on July 28 and July 29 2007 and featured the hosts, as well as reigning Serie A champions Inter Milan, French side Paris Saint-Germain and Spanish outfit Valencia (having replaced Hamburger SV, who had to pull out of the tournament because of Intertoto Cup commitments ^[2]). Arsenal did not play against Valencia, and Inter Milan 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.

As of 2008, Emirates have since agreed to host the tournament for a further three years. The 2008 Emirates Cup participants were Real Madrid, Juventus and Hamburger SV.^[3]

The 2009 Emirates Cup took place on August 1 and August 2 and is set to feature Atletico Madrid, Rangers, Paris Saint-Germain and hosts Arsenal.

Media coverage

The Emirates Cup is broadcasted by Sky Sports in the UK, Al Jazeera Sports in the Middle East and Gol TV in the United States. Sky Sports and Gol TV have signed a three year deal to broadcast the tournament. In 2008, Arsenal awarded sports production firm Kentaro the production, arranging sponsorship and rights distribution of the tournament. ^[4] Live audio broadcast is available via the Arsenal website, through their subscription based Arsenal TV online service.

The 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 FC, the winners of the inaugural pre-season tournament at Emirates Stadium on July 29 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.

Tournament History

All games are played at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, London, England. All referees and officials are English registered. All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

2007 tournament

Day 1

28 July, 2007
14:00

Inter Milan	0 – 2	Valencia
	Match Report	Gavilan 13' Villa 39'

Referee: Alan Kelly

28 July, 2007
16:15

Arsenal	2 – 1	Paris Saint-Germain
Flamini 45' Bendtner 70'	Match Report	Luyindula 80'

Attendance: 55,106

Referee: Peter Walton

Day 2

29 July, 2007
14:00

Paris Saint-Germain	3 – 0	Valencia
Diane 15' N'Gog 30' Luyindula 85'	Match Report

Referee: Andre Marriner

29 July, 2007
16:15

Arsenal	2 – 1	Inter Milan
Hleb 67' van Persie 85'	Match Report	Suazo 62'

Attendance: 59,821

Referee: Mark Halsey

Final Tournament Standings

Rank	Team	Points	W	GF	GA	GD
1	Arsenal	10	2	4	2	2
2	Paris Saint-Germain	7	1	4	2	2
3	Valencia	5	1	2	3	-1
4	Inter Milan	1	0	1	4	-3

Scorers

Rank	Name	Team	Goals
1	Peguy Luyindula	Paris Saint-Germain	2
2	Nicklas Bendtner	Arsenal	1
	Amara Diane	Paris Saint-Germain
	Mathieu Flamini	Arsenal
	Jaime Gavilán Martínez	Valencia
	Aliaksandr Hleb	Arsenal
	David N'Gog	Paris Saint-Germain
	David Suazo	Internazionale
	Robin van Persie	Arsenal
	David Villa	Valencia