Barcelona (AFP)
The Japanese online sales giant Rakuten will continue for an additional season his contract as main sponsor of FC Barcelona, with which he is now linked until June 2022, announced the club blaugrana on Friday.
Rakuten and Barcelona have agreed to "carry out the option envisaged in the deal signed in 2017 which allowed their alliance to be extended for an additional season, once the four-year contract initially planned expires," Barca said in a statement. communicated.
The agreement signed in 2017 provided for the payment of 55 million euros each year, plus 1.5 million euros for victory in the league and 5 million for victory in the Champions League.
Barcelona did not specify on Friday the financial terms of the extension of the contract, which, nevertheless, envisages "an optimization of the planned assets in order to be able to adapt them to the new reality derived from the Covid-19 pandemic".
The Japanese e-commerce giant "will continue to be the club's main global partner and innovation and entertainment partner, and its logo will continue to appear on the front of the first team jersey during the 2021 season / 2022 ", welcomes Barça.
The extension of this contract, which initially expired at the end of June 2021, will bring a little air to the Catalan club plunged into a difficult financial situation due to the impact of the pandemic.
The club's economic situation "is not dramatic, but very worrying," Carles Tusquets, appointed interim president of the club, said last Monday after the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu.
"We estimate that to balance the budget we have to make efforts of around 300 million euros ($ 348 million)," he added, adding that the club was trying to cut spending and look for new income.
© 2020 AFP