BARCELONA: Spanish champions Barcelona have confirmed a one-season extension to its main sponsorship agreement with Qatar Airways.

Qatar’s national carrier has served as Barcelona’s front-of-shirt sponsor since 2013-14 season but its €32m-per-year deal expired at the end of the 2015-16 campaign.

Under the extension, the partnership will now run through the forthcoming 2016-17 season.

Barcelona’s vice-president of marketing and communication, Manel Arroyo, said: “Qatar Airways has helped us to make Barça bigger in recent years. 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.”

Confirmation of the shirt sponsorship deal today comes after Spanish newspaper AS reported that Qatar Airways is also interested in naming rights to the Camp Nou, a contract that Barcelona is currently seeking to sell amid a major redevelopment project for its home stadium.

Qatar Airways replaced non-profit organisation the Qatar Foundation as the club’s main shirt sponsor. The Qatar Foundation held the position during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons as part of the club’s association with Qatar Sports Investments.

United Nations children’s fund UNICEF became Barcelona’s first-ever front-of-shirt sponsor from 2006 to 2011. iTS branding now features on the back of the club’s shirts.

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