Barcelona land £15.3m deal for putting sponsor's logo inside shirt • Logo will be seen only when Barcelona players lift shirt • Lionel Messi and co under no obligation to reveal logo Share 70
inShare 1 Email Reuters theguardian.com, Thursday 12 December 2013 17.58 GMT Lionel Messi and Cesc Fábregas Barcelona's Lionel Messi, left, celebrates with Cesc Fábregas after scoring but Intel will be hoping the shirt comes off too. Photograph: Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images Barcelona have agreed a sponsorship deal said to be worth £15.3m with Intel under which the chipmaker's logo will be printed on the inside of players' shirts.
The idea behind the unusual positioning of the logo is that it will be revealed when a player lifts his shirt to celebrate a goal.
Barcelona's players would be under no obligation to display the logo, which will be added to the shirts for the first time in Saturday's La Liga home match against Villarreal
Barça have not revealed how much the four and a half year deal is worth, saying it was "confidential", but Spanish media and Forbes magazine, without identifying the source of their information, reported Intel would pay $25m(£15.3m).
As part of their first foray into football sponsorship, Intel will also provide technology to players and coaching staff as well as the recruits at Barça's academy.
Deborah Conrad, Intel's chief marketing officer, said: "We did not want to put the players under any obligation to show the logo a specific number of times but we do know that such goal celebrations are a big part of the culture of the sport."
Barça's main sponsors include Nike, carmaker Audi, and Qatar Airways, whose logo will remain on the outside of the players' shirts.
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