Barcelona agree record kit deal with Rakuten

Forum 7 years ago

Barcelona agree record kit deal with Rakuten

Barcelona have announced a new four-year sponsorship deal with Japanese e-commerce company, Rakuten.

They will replace Qatar Airways as the club’s shirt sponsor from the beginning of next season.

The deal could be worth as much as €61.5 million per season if the club win La Liga and the Champions League. This would top Manchester United’s £52m-a-season deal with Chevrolet, which was the most lucrative in Europe last season.


Barca president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, revealed that talks began last season, after defender Gerard Pique arranged dinner with its chief executive, Hiroshi Mikitani.

“We were not in a hurry [to find a sponsor last season] because we wanted to find a beneficial agreement,” Bartomeu explained at the presentation.

“This is an agreement with a global brand with a lot of experience who can contribute to the success of Barcelona. We hope the partnership brings unparalleled sporting and commercial success. This all started at a dinner in 2015 which was organised by Pique in San Francisco during the club’s US tour.

“Gerard and his wife Shakira are very close friends with Mr. M Mikitani. He helped us a lot to meet Mr. Mikitani, so we are very grateful to him.”


However, Barca vice president Manel Arroyo says the partnership with Rakuten does not cover the club’s training shirts, academy kits or the women’s team shirts.