Barcelona confirm €44m agreement with DR Congo

Barcelona have on Wednesday announced an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo, which will see the African nation become a shirt sponsor for the Catalan giants. Following on from sponsorship campaigns for Visit Botswana and Visit Rwanda, DR Congo becomes the latest country to spend big on advertising in the European game.

The Catalan giants announced a ‘strategic four-year partnership’ with DR Congo, where they will seek to promote football, the culture of sport and peace. They promise to bring the Barcelona model and values to the young sportspeople of DR Congo through the collaboration, with the Blaugrana developing programmes and camps for football, basketball, handball, futsal and roller hockey..

As part of the agreement, Barcelona will wear the slogan ‘R.D Congo – Coeur d’Afrique’ on the back of their training kit, which translates as ‘DR Congo – Heart of Africa’. That will remain in place for the next four seasons until 2029.

Barcelona have not made the terms of the agreement public, but it is widely reported that they will earn somewhere between €40m and €44m from the deal. It could be a useful boost to Barcelona’s finances, as they look to increase their salary limit in a bid to register players, and finally get back into a profit.

The deal has not been without criticism. Within DR Congo, while the deal is aimed at attracting tourists to the region, people have questioned the wisdom of committing such a hefty fee to the deal when people within DR Congo are lacking basic facilities.

In addition, a series of human rights concerns have been raised about the situation in DR Congo. Barcelona have continued to support LGBTQIA+ rights, something which is being criminalised by the government in DR Congo, meanwhile there are also reports of extrajudicial executions in recent months.