Barcelona extend Qatar Airways sponsorship for a further year as club wait for more lucrative deal
Barcelona have extended their shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways for a further season after failing to find a partner willing to match their €65m (£55m) per season asking price.
The La Liga champions have had ties to the gulf state since 2010 when the Qatar Foundation became only the second shirt sponsor in its history before being replaced by Qatar Airways from 2013/14 in a deal worth around £25m a year.
President Josep Bartomeu had hoped to find a more lucrative deal that matches the £50m per season Manchester United receive from Chevrolet and has reportedly talked to Amazon about a potential deal to appear on the shirt that had no shirt sponsor at all until 2006.
Read more: Will fans accept new Qatar Airways sponsorship deal?
Yet having failed to attract a willing buyer at this stage, Barclona announced they had extended the Qatar Airways sponsorship "under the same conditions as their current deal".
The sponsorship has proved unpopular with many Barcelona fans. Last a year a petition from Barcelona fans calling on the club to drop the airline as a sponsor received 66,000 signatures.
“Qatar Airways has helped us to make Barça bigger in recent years," said Barcelona's vice-president of marketing and communication Manel Arroyo.
"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”.