Qatar Airways guarantee Barcelona biggest sum of cash

If FC Barcelona want to continue having the best players in the world and to be able to pay what the market demands, they need to keep bringing in money to compete with their fiercest rivals. 

To maintain the level of excellence at the club on sporting level (the club is owned by its socios), it is obliged to continue to grow the income coming in.

One way of doing that is through the sponsorship of the first team shirt. As things stand, the agreement with Qatar Airways is due to expire on June 30. 

Talks to renew the contract began at the end of last season. Javier Faus, who was vice-president at the time, reached a tentative agreement with Qatar Airways: 60 million euros per season, only for the shirt. The training kit was not part of the deal and another company could sponsor that. 

In the face of elections, though, the board decided it wasn’t the right time to go through with the agreement for “electoral reasons”. After winning a majority in the elections, Josep Maria Bartomeu, along with his vice-president, Manel Arroyo, re-opened talks hopeful of reaching an improved deal. 

At the same time, the club has continued to negotiate with other multi-national companies. 

However, after analysing the market and seeing the existing options, Barça have arrived at the conclusion that it’s practically impossible to find an offer better than those that arrive from the Middle East. In fact, the principle sponsors of Real Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester City, PSG and Milan come from Dubai and the UAE. 

As of today, Qatar Airways are ready to renew their commitment to FC Barcelona in a deal worth more than the initial one negotiated by Faus — it could even top Manchester United’s deal with Chevrolet. We are talking around 70 million euros a season, when last season Barça only got 35 million euros. That’s to say almost double… without counting the training kits. 

For Qatar Airways, it’s not just a commercial agreement. They understand that that to position themselves across the world, to continue improving and projecting their image across the globe, there is no better partner than the best football team on the planet. 

Not just because Barça won the treble, but because of the values they represent. 

The board will have to choose which offer the accept (Nike are waiting to start producing the 2016-17 kits) and present it at the General Assembly on October 25 to the club’s socios. 

If Barcelona don’t renew with Qatar Airways, the airline may look to make an offer to Real Madrid.

The 11 best shirt deals (euros): 

Manchester United 71m Chevrolet

Chelsea 55m Yokohama

Arsenal 40m Fly Emirates

FC Barcelona 35m Qatar Airways

Bayern Munich 33m Deutsche Telekom

Real Madrid 32m Fly Emirates

PSG 28m Fly Emirates

Manchester City 27m Etihad Airways

Liverpool 27m Standard Chartered

Tottenham 22m AIA

Milan 20m Fly Emirates