Qatar Airways has announced it has become the Official Title Partner and Official Airline Partner of The Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia 2025, which kicks off in ‘The Land Down Under’ on June 28, 2025.
Broadening its sponsorship portfolio of major global sporting events, the Doha-based carrier will transport the Lions team to and from Australia for the tour and will also have its brand promoted across all of the team’s warm-up matches as well as the three high-profile test matches against the Australian Wallabies national side.
The British & Irish Lions Tour is a historic and highly anticipated event that takes place every four years. The Tour sees the Lions, a combined team of the best rugby talent from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, take on the best national sides of the Southern Hemisphere on rotation in a series of Test matches – the other countries hosting tours including New Zealand and South Africa.
Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium will host the first of three Tests on July 19, 2025, with the second Test being played on July 26, 2025, at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The final Test will be played at Sydney’s Accor Stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park on August 2, 2025.
In preparation for the first Test, the Lions will face a combined Australian and New Zealand team at the Adelaide Oval, while the tour will also include fixtures in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. With 20,000 fans expected to travel to Australia for the 2025 Tour, the airline will be hoping to showcase its award-winning inflight services to an even broader range of international travelers.
“We are taking our commitment to the sport of rugby to the next level, flying some of the world’s best athletes, coaching staff, and officials to compete in The Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia 2025,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Badr Mohammed Al-Meer. “We look forward to enabling rugby fans across the world to connect for this unique sporting event. Our network of over 170 destinations will serve as the perfect means to fly fans from all over the globe and experience the service that earned us the Skytrax World’s Best Airline award for a record eight times.”
“An airline partner is a vital logistical component of every Lions tour and alongside our partners in Rugby Australia, we are very pleased to welcome Qatar Airways on board as Series Title Partner for the 2025 Tour to Australia,” said the CEO of The British & Irish Lions, Ben Calveley.
“Qatar Airways has a proven track record of excellence as a premium global airline, providing high-quality service to customers traveling to and from almost 100 countries. This three-way partnership between the Lions, Rugby Australia, and Qatar Airways will play an important part in delivering the Lions Tour in 2025,” he added.
With an extensive network serving destinations in Australia, Qatar Airways operates 42 weekly flights to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. The airline has shown growing commitment to the Australian market in recent years, and with the country’s sporting activities in particular through its sponsorship of Australian rules football side Sydney Swans, The F1 Australian Grand Prix, and The Qatar Airways Australian MotoGP that takes place on Phillip Island.
“We have had an incredible response from the public in Australia and the UK and Ireland to tickets going on sale for The Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia 2025, with the first allocation to all three Tests and several tour games already selling out,” said CEO of Rugby Australia, Phil Waugh.
“This announcement of Qatar Airways as the Series Title Partner sees one of the world’s finest airlines getting behind one of the most iconic major sporting events in the world, and represents another substantial boost to what promises to be a memorable occasion across Australia next year,” Waugh concluded.
