November 13 – Barcelona have agreed a two-year extension to its partnership with the United Nations Children’s fund, Unicef.
The current deal had been due to expire next year, but will now run through to 2016 with Unicef’s logo continuing to appear on the back of Barcelona’s shirt. Under the arrangement, Barca will reportedly pay $2 million a year.
Barca and Unicef first joined forces in 2006 and the club used to have the charity’s name on the front of their shirts, which made them one of the few leading sides in world football not to display a corporate logo.
That all changed when they agreed a sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment worth €30 million a season in 2011 and the shirts now feature the name of Qatar Airways, the starkest illustration yet of the Catalan giants needing to embrace commercial reality.
Dropping Unicef’s name to the back may not be welcomed by everyone and could prompt suggestions that the club are compromising their principles. The announcement came on the same day that France Football magazine published a four-page expose of Barca boss Sandro Rosell’s alleged suspicious business practises.
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