Qatar Airways has been announced as the official title partner and official airline partner of the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2025. The tour will see the Lions – a combined team of the best rugby union players from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales – take on the Wallabies in three Test matches as well as a number of games against Australian teams.
Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium will host the first of three Tests on Saturday 19 July 2025. The second Test will be played on Saturday 26 July 2025 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and the final Test will be played at Sydney’s Accor Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday 2 August 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.
The title sponsorship follows two successful Qatar Airways Cup International Test matches in 2023 and 2024 held at Twickenham, between South Africa and New Zealand and South Africa and Wales respectively.
Qatar Airways Group CEO, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, said: “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. 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.”
CEO of The British & Irish Lions, Ben Calveley, said: “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. Qatar Airways has a proven track record of excellence as a premium global airline, providing high-quality service to customers travelling 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.”
CEO of Rugby Australia, Phil Waugh, said: “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 a number of tour games already selling out. 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.”
With 20,000 fans expected to travel to Australia in the summer of 2025 across matches held across six stadia, the airline offers its passengers the world’s best value stopover via its hub and world’s best airport – Hamad International Airport. Additionally, with access to its Privilege Club Collection, fans now enjoy ‘money can’t buy experiences’, such as exclusive access to experiences beyond next summer’s rugby action.
Image: qatarairways.com