Barcelona agree one-year extension on their sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways worth huge £29.5m
La Liga champions used to refuse to wear a name on the front of their shirts but bucked the trend with charity Unicef
BARCELONA have one-year extension on their sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways which is worth a whopping £29.5million.
The La Liga champions used to refuse to wear a name on the front of their shirts but bucked the trend with charity Unicef ten years ago.
Barcelona will net almost £30million from new deal
Barca's first paying kit sponsors were the Qatar Foundation in 2010 and the club are set to rake in ever more next year.
According to Barcelona-based newspaper , the Catalans are in negotiations with Amazon over a three-year deal worth around £113m.
Barcelona vice-president, Manel Arroyo, said: "Qatar Airways has helped us to make Barca bigger in recent years... We hope to continue along the same lines of mutual growth."
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The club is one of four in Spain owned by its members, many of whom have expressed their opposition to the club's relationship with the Gulf state.
Former president Joan Laporta pledged to end the sponsorship deal if re-elected to the post.
But he was soundly beaten in the club's 2015 election, winning 33 percent against 54 per cent for Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Once renowned for their academy, Barca have ditched their traditional model and tried to compete with big-spending rivals Real Madrid.
They have assembled a superstar strike trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez while losing star graduates like Thiago Alcantara, who followed Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich.
Barca have been linked with moves for Kevein Gameiro and Chelsea-target Gabriel Barbosa this window.
France star Samuel Umtiti has already switched to the Nou Camp in a £21m deal from Lyon, while international team-mate Lucas Digne was landed for £14m.