Official: FC Barcelona confirm Rakuten as new official shirt sponsor
With the existing deal with Qatar Airways expiring at the end of the season, Barcelona officials have announced Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten as new official shirt sponsor.
Barca officials met in the annual general meeting last month, where they decided not to change the club sponsor mid-season.
Therefore, Qatar Airways will remain Barca’s global club sponsor till the end if the 2016-17 season. But after the end of the season, Rakuten will take over as the team’s official shirt sponsor, ending Qatar Airways’ 6 year association with Barca. The presidents of both the parties in the deal met during the announcement. Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and Rakuten’s Hiroshi Mikitani explained the terms of the four-year deal.
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This deal ended the speculation as to which company would replace the Qatari airline company as sponsor. Giants like Amazon and Huawei were in the running too, but Rakuten got the nod ahead of them. This decision will be ratified by the board of directors after an extraordinary assembly takes place on the eve of the Catalan derby against Espanyol.
The event
Barca VP Manel Arroyo was also present when the announcement took place. While he was there, he explained the deal to the audience very clearly.
Arroyo said, “It’s a four-year deal, which will being at the start of the 2017-18 campaign and end after the 2020-21 season.”
He then discussed the figures. He stated, “The base figure is €55 million, but it could increase to €61.5 million. There’s a 1.5 million bonus for winning La Liga and a 5 million bonus for winning the Champions League.”
“In addition Barça will play at least one friendly game in Japan watch year, with the possibility of two if the calendar permits.”
Then, Rakuten cheif executive Hiroshi Mikitani officially made the announcement.
He said, “It’s my greatest honour to announce this partnership in front of so many people between the greatest football club in the world and Rakuten. I started the company 20 years ago and no-one believed we would become this big.”
“We love sports. We have a professional baseball team, a Japanese professional football team and we sponsor the only ATP tennis tournament in Japan. Rakuten has been supporting local societies through sports as well.”
“I got to know FC Barcelona when Rakuten issued a Japanese website and managed the club’s website, 10 years ago. The more I learned about the club, the more I fell in love. More than a club is not just a slogan, it represents the club.”
“We intend to not only become a sponsor, but to do a lot more to help Barcelona as a global innovation and entertainment partner. Thanks you for this opportunity. I hope it’s a long and special partnership. We want it to be mes que un sponsorship. I love Barcelona.”