Barcelona announced on Tuesday that Spotify would be their main sponsor from next season, with the club’s stadium being rebranded as Spotify Camp Nou from July.
Spotify will also appear on the men’s and women’s team shirts for the next four seasons and on the club’s training shirts for the next three seasons.
Bar্সa have not confirmed the value of the sponsorship deal, although reports suggest the club could earn up to 300 million euros (about Rs 2,513 crore) in four years.
Spotify will replace Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce company, as Barcelona’s main sponsor. The Rakuten deal began in 2017 before being renewed in 2020 until the end of the season.
Club president Joan Laporta called the deal with Spotify a “pioneering” partnership with a “world-renowned company”.
“This is a union with which we are moving forward with what we have started in this new era,” Laporta added.
Barcelona are desperately seeking a new sponsorship deal to help reduce the club’s debt paralysis of more than a billion euros.
Laporta insisted in January that Barাa had returned to the transfer market as “big players” but that teams such as Eurling Holland from Borussia Dortmund would rely on a huge improvement in their financial situation.
Asked about Bar আশাa’s hopes of signing Holland this summer, La Liga general manager Javier Gomez said on Monday that Barcelona “would have to cut costs or bring in more revenue, there is no other way”.
After the January transfer window in La Liga, the cost to Barcelona is set at 144 million euros (about Rs 1,206 crore), down from 98 million euros (about Rs 821 crore) last summer. The Spanish league says Bar্সa’s losses are 242 million euros (about Rs 2,027 crore) more than expected.
“Barcelona’s losses are more than their ability to bring in income. So it is negative,” Gomez said.
The Barcelona player’s salary was responsible for 103 percent of all earnings at the start of the season and the club will have to transfer more players in the summer, with Usman Dembele expected to move for a free transfer when his contract expires in July.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho have all retired in the last two years and Sergio Aguero has retired due to heart disease.
Gerard Pique agreed to cut his salary last year to allow Barাa Memphis Dieppe and Eric Garcia to sign contracts.
However, Barcelona were allowed to sign more in January because Ferran Torres arrived from Manchester City for 55 million euros (about 60 460 million) and made a free transfer to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after his contract was canceled at Arsenal.
Adama Traver also joined the loan from the Wolves when Dani Alves, who was out of contract, re-signed.
Bar জাa have improved significantly with coach Xavi Hernandez overseeing some changes in performance ahead of Sunday’s Clasico against Real Madrid.
Barাa are now third in La Liga and looking to qualify for next season’s Champions League, which is crucial to their financial recovery. Xavi took charge of the ninth-ranked team in November.