Barcelona signs up first commercial shirt sponsor in 111-year history

Barcelona football club has signed up non-profit organisation Qatar Foundation as the first commercial shirt sponsor in its 111-year history. The deal is estimated to be worth £25m a year.

The Qatar Foundation is a non-profit organisation, which primarily runs education projects aimed at helping the country and other parts of the Middle East. Barcelona has previously refused commercial shirt sponsorship.

The Qatar Foundation will share the shirt space with Unicef, after the children’s charity became the club’s first sponsor in 2006.

The Qatar Foundation, which was set up in 1995, is chaired by Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, the wife of the Emir who was central to Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup competition.