Spanish soccer giants Barcelona have agreed a lucrative new sponsorship deal with the tourism body of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Under the contract, which Reuters claims to have obtained, the LaLiga club will receive more than €40 million ($46.5 million) to promote the central African country as a tourist destination.
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A logo promoting tourism will appear on the backs of training and warm-up jerseys for the men's and women's teams.
The logo will also appear across the club’s advertising channels.
The contract with the Congolese government shows that the country will pay the club between €10 million and €11.5 million annually over the next four seasons.
Barcelona become the third European club to partner with the DR Congo tourism body after Italy’s AC Milan and France’s Monaco announced similar agreements in June.
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By GlobalDataMilan named DR Congo’s Ministry of Tourism as a new premium partner and official tourism destination partner.
As part of the Monaco deal, meanwhile, Congo’s branding will feature on the sleeve of the men’s team’s shirts during league and European matches. It will also appear on the front of the jerseys of the academy teams.
Congolese sports minister Didier Budimbu told Reuters the contract with Monaco is worth €1.6 million per season, while a government source said the deal with Milan is worth €14 million annually.
Major European clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, and Atletico Madrid (in a deal announced in April) have controversial partnerships with the Rwanda tourism board, meanwhile.
The state of Rwanda has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years for alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by the country’s government.
Rwanda’s sporting sponsorships have been criticized for several years due to accusations that the ruling government is using them to sportswash its alleged rights violations.
Arsenal, Bayern Munich, and PSG have recently all been publicly urged to end their partnerships with the Rwanda Development Board by human rights groups, with Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, writing to Arsenal urging them to end their agreement in February after an invasion of DRC territory involving Rwanda-backed rebels M23.
Barcelona’s deal with Congo will be a further financial boost to the club as they seek to lower their enormous debts.
The Catalan side’s commercial portfolio also includes a shirt, training kit, and stadium naming rights agreement with Spotify, and a sleeve sponsorship with Ambilight TV.
Barcelona recently announced that they would be returning to Camp Nou on August 10 after temporarily playing matches at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Montjuic for the last two seasons while construction work took place to renovate their home stadium.
However, it has now been reported that the club will delay this return after discussions with the Barcelona City Council.
The reigning LaLiga champions will begin the defence of their title against Mallorca on August 16.
