Gulf Air buys into Premiership dream

PREMIERSHIP DREAM: QPR shirts carrying the Gulf Air logo are already on sale on the club's web site.

Middle East airlines' love of London football shows no sign of abating, with Gulf Air joining Emirates and Etihad as sponsors of their own club in England's capital.

Gulf Air announced it has signed a three year, 7 million pounds ($14 million) deal to be the sponsor of Queens Park Rangers (QPR), a club currently in the Coca-Cola Championship, the second tier of the English league system.

The scale of the deal does depend on success. Only 1 million pounds per year will be paid while the club remains in the Championship, but will increase to 3 million pounds for any year spent in the lucrative Premiership along side Emirates-sponsored Arsenal and Etihad-sponsored Chelsea.

QPR have had their sights set on the Premiership since being bought last year by some of the world's richest men: Flavio Briatore, managing director of the Renault Formula One team; Indian industrialist Lakshmi Mittal; and Formula One boss Berni Ecclestone.

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