Emirates has been named as a tour partner for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The Dubai-based airline will provide travel packages including flights to South Africa, accommodation, ground transportation and match tickets to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Emirates will also offer fans a 'safety package' allowing them to recover their money if their team does not qualify for the competition.

The airline has been a major partner of Fifa for three years and has an overall deal with world soccer's governing body that will run until 2014. This deal, which sees Emirates join a number of other international Tour Operators for the World Cup, will be worth just a small amount of the millions of dollars Emirates pays for that position, but is still expected to represent a seven-figure profit.

"Emirates is a valued partner of FIFA and we are delighted to have them on board as a global Tour Operator," commented Jerome Valcke, Fifa's general secretary. "The goal of our Tour Operator program for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is to facilitate safe and effective travel to the matches for the largest possible number of fans from countries around the world, and we know that partnering with Emirates will help us achieve this. As a partner of ours until 2014 we are looking forward to working closely with Emirates and developing further initiatives for fans across the globe over the coming years."

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for Emirates and we are pleased to be able to develop our partnership with Fifa by offering our world class travel services to football fans globally. This newest development of our Fifa activation demonstrates how, as a Fifa Partner, we are bringing the spirit of the event to our existing and potential customers worldwide and offering a comprehensive FIFA World Cup experience."