© EuroFootball.com
The Spanish superclub officially confirmed that for the first time in the club's 106-year history, there will be an advertisement on the team's jerseys.
Barcelona has signed a five-year contract with the government of the Democratic Republic of China and is expected to promote the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, followed by the 2010 Asian Games.
The minimum contract amount is 95 million euros, but the contract includes additional bonuses for the club's achievements. The president of the Catalan superclub, Joan Laporta, personally traveled to China to finalize the details of the contract.
With this agreement, Barcelona gained a certain financial autonomy that will allow them to have more freedom in managing their money. Similarly, recently London's Chelsea signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Samsung. A while back, another London club, Arsenal, signed a record-breaking 150 million euro advertising contract with Emirates, and Juventus from Turin - with Oilinvest (brand "Tamoil").
After this step by Barcelona, possibly the only famous European club that has maintained very old traditions of not placing advertisements on jerseys, another Spanish club Athletic Bilbao remains.
