Barcelona have presented their new shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways, including the launch of a TV spot featuring a number of the players.
The club confirmed during last season that sponsorship partners the Qatar Foundation had taken up an option to bring in a new sponsorship for the shirt and, starting this season, Qatar Airways will adorn the team’s kits.
“We are united by research and excellence. Qatar Airways, through all of its services, and us, in terms of sport,” commented club President Sandro Rosell at a presentation today.
“We have 300m fans around the world and thanks to Qatar Airways we can build connections with them. Also, Qatar Airways’ relation with Barcelona Airport is getting more important every day.
“Thanks to them, thousands of international supporters will be coming in the future to Barcelona to discover its sights, but also to enjoy the experience of visiting our club.”
Economic Vice-President Javier Faus was also present and spoke of the deal’s format, as well as the relationship the company’s owners have, considering they are also Paris Saint-Germain’s owners.
“They govern PSG and only the sponsor of Barcelona, nothing more. This is the biggest shirt deal ever. There are payments to come of €30.5m, €32m and €33.5m. And there is also a bonus of €5m if we win the Champions League and we hope we can do just that in the next three years.
“The agreement opens new markets that we were finding it hard to get to. It offers worldwide coverage that will help our marketing department.
“Qatar Foundation did not make use of them all, but Qatar Airways will. Now there’s the façade of the stadium.
“The Qatar Airways logo will appear on the seats, next to the Nike logo, and there’ll be a space for them in the Museum. All sponsorship deals around the world include things like these.”
As part of the presentation, Barca and Qatar Airways unveiled a new TV spot featuring a number of the first team’s stars.
