'Historic' sponsorship deal for Barça and Spotify

BARCELONA football club has just signed one of the biggest and most lucrative sponsorship deals in the history of the sport – and which will involve renaming its home stadium.

A press release from the management does not include the exact figures, but the contract is rumoured to be for around €280 million and in force until the year 2025.

Global music streaming platform Spotify, based in Sweden and described by FC Barcelona as 'the world's most popular', will now replace former sponsors Rakuten on players' shirts.

And Barça's Camp Nou ground (pictured above) will be known as Spotify Camp Nou as permanent advertising for the subscription-only service.

Spotify itself, on its Twitter account @SpotifyNews, has released a heads-up about this massive deal, captioning a picture of multiple male and female players and music artists (second photo) with the message: “Have you heard? We're partnering with FC Barcelona to bring music and football together like you've never seen before. Learn more from our Chief Freemium Business Officer, Alex Norström.”

The company's name and logo will appear on the back of training shirts and on the front of official strips for the men's and women's teams.

Barça will be permitted to add other, additional sponsors' names to the sleeves, as long as they are not in competition with Spotify.

Described as an 'historic' move for Spanish premier league football, FC Barcelona says of the deal: “For the first time in the history of the Club, the global audio transmission platform has become a title partner of the stadium, which will be renamed Spotify Camp Nou.”

The new strips will be released from July 1 this year, and the two corporate giants will 'work together to create opportunities for this iconic new shirt to become a space that celebrates artists from all over the world'.

According to the Club: “The long-term deal for property rights to the stadium will start in July 2022 and will extend via an ambitious remodelling of the Camp Nou complex, as part of the Espai Barça ('Barça Space') project.

“The alliance achieved by Barça and Spotify is the first of its type for a club, in uniting the worlds of music and football, offering a global scene for players and artistes at Spotify Camp Nou and building new opportunities for them to connect with fans worldwide.”