FC Barcelona Receive Huge Nine-Figure Yearly Offer From Qatar: Reports

FC Barcelona have received a huge, nine-figure annual offer from Qatar for a club in the country’s league to use its name according to Catalunya Radio program Tots Costa.

As explained by Laia Tudel Prades on the show, the proposal needs to be studied by Barca from a legal prospective and to check that it does not clash with the club’s statutes.

If accepted, however, it is an agreement worth a staggering amount of approximately €100 million ($109 million) a year.

At Mas Que Pelotas, their head Adrian Sanchez also tweeted that the offer is for a sum exceeding €100 million ($109 million).

The Blaugrana are currently faced with various financial issues, and haven’t been able to reduce their structural debt of €1.35 billion ($1.47 billion) as confirmed by Economic Vice President Eduard Romeo last week to room of journalists according to COPE.

Their well-documented struggles to balance Financial Fair Play limits means that Barca often encounter difficulties to buy fresh faces and register their contracts, plus those of existing stars that renew terms.

This factor also played a part in Lionel Messi deciding to join Inter Miami earlier this month, as the Argentine didn’t want to wait around for the club to get its house in order and star in a transfer saga that could have dragged on across the summer.

Also in June, Barca president Joan Laporta took a trip to Qatar. Laporta was reported as ‘close’ to landing two sponsorships from the country by Barca Times, but no further details were given on who potential deals were allegedly being negotiated with.

A video circulated of Laporta in a room with board member Xavier Puig saying that he was “delighted to be here”.

Laporta explained that he was getting to know “my friend” Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Attiyah – who is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Baladi Holding and Baladi Express – and was also “building relationships”.

This triggered talk of a potential deal being struck with Baladi Holding, after the CEO of the Baladi group Hani Al-Sayadi watched a Barca home game against Mallorca from a private box in May where “forms of future cooperation” were discussed.

According to Tots Costa, however, a concrete offer that has emerged first comes from the Qatari league where a team wants to offer Barca the chance to make millions by using their name.

At the time of publishing, a poll run by Tots Costa showed 59.8% of voters indicating a preference to take the money from Qatar while 24.6% said ‘No’ and 15.5% went for the option: “It depends on the price”.

A disgruntled commenter remarked: “Great, let’s become McDonald’s
MCD
or Starbucks
SBUX
” in the Twitter post sharing the poll.

Yet Barca’s financial predicament means they have to consider such proposals not just to stay afloat, but to also adapt to the times and compete with more moneyed European rivals such as Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City who both have owners from the Middle East.