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Barça reaches €280 million Spotify deal which includes stadium name change

The music streaming giant will pay FC Barcelona €280 million ($320 million) over three seasons in exchange for sponsorship on first-team kits and for gaining naming rights of the Camp Nou, a first for the historic but crisis-hit club.

barcelona spotify camp nou stadium
How exactly the Camp Nou will be renamed to include the Spotify name has not yet been announced .Photo: Alessio Patron/Unsplash

FC Barcelona on Monday closed a shirt and stadium sponsorship agreement with Spotify, a deal which will see Barca’s men’s and women’s football teams bearing the Spotify logo on their kits, Catalan radio station Rac1 revealed.

Crucially, the Swedish music company will be the first brand ever to sponsor the club’s Camp Nou stadium, although exactly how the iconic 99-thousand seater will be renamed to include the Spotify name has not yet been confirmed.

The most mentioned new name in the Spanish press is Camp Nou Spotify. 

Barça signed a €55-million per season kit deal with Japanese retailer Rakuten in 2017 but that contract expires at the end of this season.

Barcelona chief executive Ferran Reverter on Tuesday resigned after only seven months in the role for what the club described on Tuesday as “personal and family reasons”. 

Reverter has played a key role in the attempt to reduce Barca’s debts of €1.35 billion ($1.5 billion) and has been at the centre of recent discussions over the significant sponsorship deal with Spotify. 

Barcelona said the resignation of Reverter, who took over as CEO in July last year, will come into effect once a replacement has been found. 

According to La Vanguardia and Marca, the 49-year-old’s departure is more down to disagreements with the club over the Spotify deal.

Barcelona’s previous board, led by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu, showed “very serious criminal behaviour”, a lawyer hired by the club said last week.

At the presentation of the club’s ‘forensic report’ into the financial management of Barca under Bartomeu, current president Joan Laporta also said “payments without cause, payments with a false cause or disproportionate payments were found”.

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SPORT

Atlético Madrid hit with partial stadium closure after racist abuse

Atlético Madrid must partially close their stadium for two La Liga matches after Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams suffered racial abuse there, the Spanish football federation said.

Atlético Madrid hit with partial stadium closure after racist abuse

The Spain international heard monkey chants directed at him in the first half of his team’s 3-1 defeat at Atlético’s Metropolitano stadium in Spain’s top flight on Saturday.

“(Atlético have been issued) a sanction of partial closure of their sports venue for a period of two matches and a financial penalty of €20,000 ($21,350),” said the federation’s competition committee in a statement.

READ ALSO: World Cup winner Del Bosque to watch over Spain’s scandal-hit federation

One area of Atlético’s stadium will be shut for the upcoming league matches against Celta Vigo and Osasuna, as they strive for a top four finish.

“I went to take the corner and I heard monkey noises,” said Williams after Saturday’s game.

“There weren’t many of them. There are stupid people everywhere… I hope this changes bit by bit.”

Williams scored after the abuse and celebrated by pointing to his arm in reference to his skin colour.

“(The celebration) was with a bit of anger, it’s not normal to be insulted for the colour of your skin,” he added.

Spanish football has suffered a spate of racist incidents in recent years, many of which have been aimed at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior.

The Brazil international earned global support after facing off with a fan who was abusing him last year at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, which also faced subsequent partial closure.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: The racism problem that has blighted Spanish football

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