Barcelona & Qatar Foundation agree £125m shirt deal

[Fredo]

Well, it seems Barca's model can't resist overtures of big money corporations anymore!

Barcelona agree record shirt deal

Barcelona have ended their 111-year history of refusing commercial shirt sponsorship by signing a record £125m deal with the Qatar Foundation.

The Catalan giants have paid to carry the Unicef logo for the last five years and the children's charity will share shirt space with the new sponsors.

Barcelona have a sizeable debt but now claim to be "the undisputed brand leader in world football".

The deal will be worth £25m a year from next season through until 2016.

In July, an audit revealed Barcelona's debt to be £369.5m after a loss of more than £64.36m in the 2009/10 season.

The new sponsorship arrangement could free up some transfer funds for coach Pep Guardiola - who worked as an ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

The Qatar Foundation is a non-profit organisation concerned primarily with education projects in the Middle East.

It is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, the wife of the Emir, who was central to Qatar's final World Cup bid last week.

Senior club executives said the deal was a "remarkable milestone because it represents a record level of revenue for a football club and has more value still in the current economic climate".

Manchester United and Real Madrid both earn a little over £20m a year for their rights, while Bayern Munich make closer to £23m.

Marketing experts will seek to find a way for both logos to be displayed on the Barcelona shirts, although if that is not possible the Unicef name will take priority.
Story from BBC SPORT:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/europe/9276343.stm

Published: 2010/12/10 13:17:14 GMT

© BBC MMX

[Shaggy]

They're getting a lot of stick...some journo on Twitter reckons "it stinks". Yeah right. Fair play to them for holding out for so long. This was inevitable sooner or later.

[anfieldanfield]

Sad that they've done it, but as Shaggy says, fair play to them for holding out so long.

[-V-]

No reason for them to get stick for it. How many other clubs have actually paid to have a charity logo on their shirt? Even now they will keep Unicef so all credit to them.

With the size of their debt they couldn't possibly say no

[Fernandinho]

Qatar Cunts.

[Roboklopp]

Aye, makes sense. Fair play to em.

As an aside, I wonder how much of our £80m we'll be seeing given our poor results & not being in the CL.

[Neil Young]

Shock, horror.

I said at the time the Unicef deal was a way to get Barca supporters to accept the idea of a sponsor's name on the shirt.

It's obviously a good thing Unicef got money and exposure but it was always a purely commercial decision by Barcelona. I don't mind that but the praise they got for it always struck me as naive.

[Fernandinho]

We can't all be as wise as you Mr. Young

[lfcred]

Has this got anything to do with the WC bid you think?

I.E. Spain promised Qatar their vote in retrun for this deal??

[tsb]

Has this got anything to do with the WC bid you think?

I.E. Spain promised Qatar their vote in retrun for this deal??

Qatar sponsoring a Catalan club = Spains vote?

[CJ]

am sure i said the same as Neil

that makes me feel sick

[Red_Polo]

Shock, horror.

I said at the time the Unicef deal was a way to get Barca supporters to accept the idea of a sponsor's name on the shirt.

It's obviously a good thing Unicef got money and exposure but it was always a purely commercial decision by Barcelona.

My thoughts exactly

[dom9]

And mine too.

[CJ]

My thoughts exactly

And mine too.

we all feel sick?

[danperkins]

Well....Theres their money to buy Torres