Barcelona have approved a shirt sponsorship deal with the non-profit Qatar Foundation worth 171 million euros despite concerns from the fans. The Catalan club signed the five-and-a-half year deal, touted as the largest shirt sponsorship deal in football history, but the decision to collect money for the first time in its history to display a logo on their shirts has attracted critics.
Barcelona's legendary former Dutch coach Johan Cruyff has blasted the endorsement deal as "vulgar" and thousands of club fans signed a petition to demand that the agreement be revoked.
The Qatar Foundation, founded in 1995, has set up projects focusing on education, scientific research and community development, mainly in the Middle East.
Barca coach Pep Guardiola, who played for Qatar's Al Ahly between 2003 and 2005 had defended the Gulf state on Wednesday, calling it "the most open Muslim country".
"Qatar is opening up to the Western world and I know the efforts that the Foundation is putting in to do some really good things. I think that we often don't understand the Muslim world - nor they us," he added.
Despite their success on the field, Barcelona are struggling financially.
Before the vote Barcelona's economic vice-president, Javier Faus, told the members that the size of the deal left the club's board little option but to accept.
But he stressed that the deal will end when the current board's mandate comes to an end and the club could decide whether to continue wearing the Qatar Foundation name or switch to another after the third year.
"We wanted to solve financial questions but didn't want the agreement to be irreversible," he said.
