Emirates Stadium hosts education summit

On Tuesday, Emirates Stadium once again proved its ability to stage major non-football events by hosting a global summit to support the FIFA-backed 1Goal campaign, which aims to provide education for every child in the world.

Gordon Brown, Queen Rania of Jordan, together with an array of footballing greats including Sir Bobby Charlton, Marcel Desailly and Alan Shearer were among approximately 250 guests to pledge their support to 1Goal – a campaign for global education.

England legend Gary Lineker hosted the event from Emirates Stadium, from where Prime Minister Brown and Queen Rania made official speeches. The stadium then facilitated a live satellite link-up, which transmitted messages of support from world leaders and influential football individuals from as far afield as South Africa, Ghana, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, together with the leaders of Spain, Brazil and Australia all made pre-recorded statements in support of the campaign, which were also broadcast into the event.

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and Gunners’ Chief Executive Officer Ivan Gazidis were also present at the event to officially greet the guests to Emirates Stadium, with Gordon Brown and Cabinet Ministers taking time out of their schedule to be shown the famous Emirates pitch and the stadium’s facilities by Wenger and Gazidis.

After the event, Emirates Stadium’s vast Royal Oak Suite enabled the assembled 200 members of the media to interview the VIPs and file their news reports back to their organisations across the world.

It is the second time in as many years that the Prime Minister has attended a high profile event at Emirates Stadium. In March 2008, the stadium hosted the historic Anglo-French summit between Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The day included a conference for over 200 media and cabinet ministers, with the two governments enjoying a working lunch in the exclusive Diamond Club where they sampled some of the first class cuisine on offer, cooked by the Michelin Starred and Emirates Stadium Executive Chef, Raymond Blanc.

The 60,000 seat state-of-the-art Emirates Stadium has two premium hospitality levels which provide over 7,000 supporters with access to a range of bars and restaurants on a matchday. The facilities are also regularly utilised on non-matchday days for corporate and private events for up to 2,000 in a single suite.

Between June 2008 and May 2009, over 350 external events took place at the stadium, in addition to 200 events for Arsenal Football Club. The wide variety of events hosted at Emirates Stadium over the past year have ranged from Law examinations to the hosting of auditions for the popular X Factor TV show.

Since opening in July 2006, Emirates Stadium has won many awards for its construction process, regeneration and its Meetings and Events offering, including: 2007 ‘Visit London’ – Business Venue of The Year and 2008 ‘Meet England’ – Business Tourism Gold Award.

Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis said: “We are absolutely delighted that Emirates Stadium was chosen to host this important worldwide event, with so many VIPs in attendance. Emirates Stadium has quickly established itself as a leading event venue not only in London but throughout the UK and Europe. We are proud that we have built a successful and reputable events offer which rivals any other established events venue.

“Since Arsenal Football Club moved to Emirates Stadium in July 2006, as well as nearly 100 Arsenal football matches taking place here, we have hosted two major music concerts, an Anglo-French governmental summit, X Factor auditions, many weddings, as well as hundreds of corporate conferences and private events.”

For more information on Emirates Stadium Events call 0845 262 0004, visit www.arsenal.com/events or email events@arsenal.co.uk.

For more information on hospitality at Arsenal home fixtures, call 0845 262 0001, visit www.arsenal.com/hospitality or email hospitality@arsenal.co.uk

 

1Goal
The 1GOAL campaign will push education towards the top of the agenda at major international meetings between now and the Millennium Development Goal Summit in September 2010. EU, G8 and G20 meetings will take place during the World Cup itself. The campaign aims to generate commitments to increase funding for education, greater investment in teachers and target ways to spread education programmes in hard-to-reach communities. It will use the World Cup 2010 to get the message across to football fans and others of the importance of sending children to school.

Among those backing the campaign are: Queen Rania of Jordan, Gary Lineker and David James (England), Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria), Mikaël Silvestre, Gaël Clichy and Marcel Desailly (France), Aaron Mokoena (South Africa), Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen (England), Robson de Souza, commonly known as Robinho (Brazil), Kolo Touré (Ivory Coast), Robin van Persie (The Netherlands), Mia Hamm (US Women's National Soccer Team), Kelly Rowland (US singer, formerly in Destiny’s Child), and Kevin Spacey (US actor) have added their support. For further information about 1Goal, please visit www.twitter.com/join1goal.

[Wednesday, October 07, 2009]

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