Barca eyes extension to sponsorship deal with Qatar

BARCELONA’S vice-president on Wednesday appeared to contradict the club’s boss by claiming that the Catalan giants want to retain a sponsorship deal with Qatar for “many, many more years”.

Javier Faus said the club had “zero problems” with either the shirt sponsor, Qatar Airways, or the Gulf state itself, which has come under fire for its human rights record.

He was speaking in Doha at a star-spangled launch of the latest marketing campaign involving the football club and the airline, with Brazilian superstar Neymar and Spain’s 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 winning central defender Gerard Pique in attendance.

Last week, the club’s president Josep Bartomeu created a stir when he said the club were sensitive to “social and political aspects” in Qatar.

But Faus said the five-year, estimated 165 million euro ($190m) sponsorship deal may be extended beyond next year when the initial contract runs out.

“We are extremely, extremely satisfied with Qatar Airways,” he said.

“I can assure you there are zero, zero, zero problems with Qatar Airways, zero with Qatar and we definitely hope that this partnership lasts many, many, more years.”

He added that a final decision on sponsorship would be made this year.

Faus said the club had chosen Qatar “of course” for financial reasons, adding that Barcelona were operating in a very competitive arena where some of their rival clubs have unlimited resources.

The deal, which has been criticised by some in Barcelona, comes to an end in 2016.

He was backed by a bullish Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar al-Baker who was also at the launch and suggested that Bartomeu, who has subsequently been named in a tax fraud probe in regarding the signing of striker Neymar, did not mean what he said about the political situation.

“I think we should ignore political statements,” he said.