Barcelona renews shirt sponsorship with Qatar Airways for one more season
Date
7/20/2016 4:26:28 AM
BARCELONA, Spain: Barcelona says it has agreed to renew its shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways until June 2017.
The Spanish champion says the deal maintains the "same conditions" as the five-year contract, which earned Barcelona 30 million euros ($33 million) annually.
Barcelona was one of the last clubs to not make revenues from advertising on its shirt until the 2010 deal with Qatar Foundation, which included an agreement to then be sponsored by Qatar Airways. Spanish media reports have linked Barcelona to a possible sponsorship deal with Amazon.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: 'Three years ago was the first time we entered into such a landmark sports partnership. We are proud and greatly honoured to continue that relationship. We hope to have a great season together”.
FC Barcelona";s vice-president of Marketing and Communication, Manel Arroyo, said: 'Qatar Airways has helped us to make Barça bigger in recent years. The success that has accompanied the Club has partly been their work. It is a pleasure to be able to work together for another season and we hope to continue along the same lines of mutual growth”.
Akbar Al Baker and Manel Arroyo.
Qatar Airways, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world in recent years, has doubled the frequency of its flights to Barcelona and Madrid since it started sponsoring FC Barcelona in 2013.
Qatar Airways and FC Barcelona have also worked closely to develop strategies to promote Barcelona in Asia, and this has produced an important increase in passengers from Asia Pacific to Barcelona.
Qatar Airways currently operates 14 weekly non-stop flights from Barcelona to Doha with great connections to points across the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa.
AP / The Peninsula