As Barcelona club members prepare to vote on whether to veto the club’s record-breaking sponsorship deal with Qatar Foundation, president Sandro Rosell has issued a stark warning that without the £125m (Dh750m) five-year deal the club would be unable to maintain its current status.
Barca hit the headlines last December when they announced the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in history with the Qatar Foundation, which led them to declare that they were “the undisputed brand leader in world football”.
The decision to partner up with the non-profit organisation, concerned primarily with education projects in the Middle East, came at a time of economic instability at the club after they saw their debt soar to £369.5m (Dh2.2bn) following a loss of more than £64.36m (Dh385m) in the 2009/10 season.
It also helped the club to splash out in the region of £55m (Dh330m) in adding Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas to an already glittering array of world stars including Lionel Messi, Xavi and David Villa during the summer as the club looks to build on their Spanish and European success last season.
However, the deal has not been without its detractors with many of the club’s fans expressing their dismay at what they have perceived to be a betrayal of the club’s heritage and tradition as they had long held the stance of shunning commercial shirt sponsorship.
Indeed, the Spanish and European giants had for the previous five years paid for the right to carry the children’s charity, UNICEF, logo on their strip which was in stark contrast to rivals such as Real Madrid and Manchester United who have frequently cashed in on their enormous popularity worldwide.
And now, having received a number of complaints about their tie up with the Qatar Foundation, Barca have taken the extraordinary step of submitting the deal for approval to the assembly of delegates, or socios as they are known.
While Rosell acknowledges that the move is “a risk”, by spelling out the ramifications of reneging on the deal when some 170,000 members vote on September 24, the Barca president hopes that sense will prevail enabling the club to continue to “follow the right path”.
A path that has seen the club reduce it’s debt by £58.5million (Dh351m) over the past 12 months since Rosell succeeded Joan Laporta as president in July 2010.
“We should rethink the size of this club, but if that is what the partner wants, so be it,” he told ‘La Vanguardia’.
“Barça would be sustainable, but with another dimension. I could not continue to keep all you need: the world’s best squad, the best manager…and rivals would have more advantages.”
