Barcelona seal world-record £50million per year shirt sponsorship deal with Rakuten

The club’s relationship with Qatar Airways will end in the summer, being replaced by a deal worth nearly twice as much

Barcelona have signed a monster new shirt sponsorship deal with Rakuten that will net them north of £200million over the next five years.

The Nou Camp club have been looking to replace their Qatar Airways contract that has been below market value for a couple of seasons.

They are, however, expected to stay on as the club’s official airline partner.

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten boasted revenues of £5.24bn last year and are seen as in ideal partner for the Catalan club to continue growing their brand in Asia.

Indeed, the press conference to announce the sponsorship agreement was streamed live in Japanese, among other languages, and a Barca statement said:

“FC Barcelona and Rakuten Inc., a dynamic global company leading the way in e-commerce, communications, digital content and FinTech services for consumers and businesses around the world, have reached an agreement for the Japanese company to become the main global sponsor of the Club and to appear on the front of the first team’s jersey for the next four seasons, beginning in 2017/18.

[OFFICIAL] Rakuten will be Barça’s new main global sponsor beginning with the 2017/18 season https://t.co/hOL1IeFsPm #FCBRakuten pic.twitter.com/us00HJQpG7

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 16, 2016
Club president Josep Bartomeu revealed that the agreement came about after an initial meeting organised by Barca defender Gerard Pique.

The former Man United man, who has previously stated his desire to one day be president of the club, set up a dinner in San Francisco back in 2015 which led to the monster agreement.

Barça vice president Manel Arroyo says deal could reach £53million per season, with a base payment of £48m that could be massaged by up to £5.5m in bonuses depending on the club’s success.