Lyon, Nice to flag off Dubai is Open campaign Saturday

After close  to three months of sports and business limbo following the Coronavirus pandemic, the City of Dubai has announced a return to full business effective July 7.

To flag off the campaign ligue 1 sides Lyon and Nice will on Saturday clash in a friendly at lyon’s Groupama Stadium. It will be Lyon’s first match under its new Emirates sponsorship contract and the players will be expected to wear a special one-off jersey with the words ‘Dubai Is Open’ across the front.

According to Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, the bespoke jerseys were created to help raise awareness that Dubai has reopened for tourism. The move comes on the back of the Dubai Government’s recent announcement that welcomes business and leisure visitors to the city.

The ‘Dubai Is Open’ message it is further revealed, will also be visible on digital signboards across Emirates’ other football sponsorships in Europe, including Real Madrid and Arsenal.

On July 1, Emirates became the official main sponsors of OL. The official 2020-2021 home jerseys featuring Emirates’ ‘Fly Better’ logo will be revealed ahead of the new season.

Emirates has already resumed flights for passengers to over 50 cities, and has announced that it will deploy its flagship A380 aircraft to Paris starting from July 15.

The Lyon versus Nice friendly will be played at 6.30pm local time (8.30pm UAE)

Recall that the French league was brought to an abrupt end late April with more than a quarter of the matches unplayed no thanks to the coronavirus with PSG emerging champions.