Barcelona's €171 million shirt sponsorship deal with the non-profit Qatar Foundation was approved by a wide margin at a general assembly.

club members unanimously accepted the shirt sponsorship deal at a general assembly late on Saturday night, with 697 votes in favour of keeping the deal, 76 against and 36 abstentions, the club said on their website.

The Qatar Foundation, founded in 1995, has set up projects focusing on education, scientific research and community development, mainly in the Middle East.

It is run by the wife of Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani who seized power from his father in a bloodless coup in 1995 and in 2003 declared his son Tamim heir apparent.

Part of the opposition to the shirt sponsorship deal stems from the lack of democracy in Qatar, which has no organised opposition groups and where parliamentary elections have repeatedly been postponed.

OGC Nice announched that Les Mutuelles du Soleil will be the new shirt sponsor for the rest of the 2011/12 season. The logo of Les Mutuelles du Soleil already appeared on the front of the jersey in the match against Paris Saint Germain last wednesday.

Neither the length nor the financial details of the contract were released.

Jean Rossetti, the president of OGC Nice, said:

"This partnership with the Ligue 1 soccer club is a great opportunity for us to reinforce our image in France. That is why we are very happy to be the shirt sponsor of the beacon club of the town of Lille, thereby allowing us to help with the development of the team."

Jean-Pierre Rivère, the president of OGC Nice Côte d'Azur, said:

"We are very happy and proud that an enterprise of the scope of Les Mutuelles de Soleil is becoming the lead partner of OGC Nice Côte d'Azur. We have found during the discussions conducted a real motivation and a common desire to do big things together."

Barcelona signed a five-and-a-half year shirt sponsorship deal worth up to 170 million euros ($225 million) with the non-profit Qatar Foundation in December touted as the largest sponsorship deal in football history.

But the club's decision to collect money for the first time in its history to display a logo on its jerseys did not go down well with many fans who have pressured Barcelona's board to re-think the deal at a meeting on Saturday.

Barcelona's legendary former Dutch coach Johan Cruyff has blasted the endorsement deal as "vulgar" while former club president Joan Laporta has said he would prefer to see the jerseys carry only the logo of UNICEF, an image which has "a message, a cause".

Guardiola, who played for Qatar's Al Ahly between 2003 and 2005 and who was one of the ambassadors for the nation's successful 2022 World Cup bid, has stepped into the debate in comments published on the club's official website.

Queens Park Rangers Football Club is delighted to announce a multi-million pound shirt sponsorship deal with Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia.

Malaysia Airlines will sponsor QPR's home shirt for the next two seasons, whilst AirAsia will take pride of place on the R's away and third jerseys for the same period.

QPR CEO Philip Beard expressed his delight at the new deal, commenting: "This is a unique and exciting venture for the Football Club.

Spanish gaming operator Cirsa will be Real Betis' shirt sponsor this season. The deal is believed to be for two seasons and worth €1.5million over that period. Cirsa will replace Cruzcampo, which had signed a sponsorship agreement in March that appeared to include shirt sponsorship.

Betis president Miguel Guillen praised Cirsa as an industry leader with many similarities to the club.

Manchester United have signed a new £40m sponsorship deal for their domestic training kit that exceeds the value of all but five main shirt sponsors in the Premier League.

DHL, the world’s leading express and logistics company, has become the first official training kit sponsor of Manchester United in a ground-breaking deal for English football.

The new four-year-agreement sees the DHL logo included on the Club's training kit worn by all first, reserve and youth team players during domestic competitions and builds on DHL’s relationship behind the scenes at the club.

DHL has been the Club's Official Logistics Partner for a year and played a key role supporting United’s pre-season tour of the United States, and will continue to work hard to help deliver success on and off the pitch.

To mark the extended partnership, and as part of United's celebrations of its record-breaking 19th top-flight championship win last season, the logistics company will be delivering the Club's gift to its fans attending Monday evening's match against Tottenham Hotspur - a specially-commissioned commemorative scarf for each United supporter.

Blackburn Rovers FC has announced a unique charity of the year partnership with The Prince's Trust for the upcoming 2011-12 football season.

The partnership will see Rovers donate the branding space on its famous shirts to the charity instead of selling the space to a sponsor.

The club, which has a history of running Prince's Trust programmes for disadvantaged young people in the area, has committed to fundraising for the charity throughout the season in addition to the pro bono shirt contribution.

Simon Williams, head of commercial and marketing at BRFC, said:

"The club has enjoyed a strong and productive relationship with The Prince's Trust since 2005 and this agreement takes that relationship onto another level. The exposure The Prince's Trust will obtain as our shirt partner will greatly increase the level of awareness for the charity and hopefully encourage fundraising for the fantastic work they do to with young people."

The Prince's Trust has a long history of harnessing the power and passion of football to bring about positive change. Through its partnership with the Premier League and Professional Footballers Association The Trust has helped over 15,000 young people through football since 1997, working with over 60 Premier League and Football League Clubs to deliver a range of programmes that have helped three in four young people in to work, training or education.

It is hoped that money raised through the Charity of the Year partnership will help provide more Prince's Trust programmes in Blackburn over the coming year.

Swansea City will grace the Premier League stage next season sporting a brand new look after signing up leading kit manufacturer adidas on a long standing commercial partnership.

The announcement will spark memories of the last time the club played its football in the top flight under John Toshack back in 1981 when the Swans also wore an adidas kit.

adidas will become the club's new Technical Partner and the official supplier of all playing and training kit.

The Swans' new home kit will be launched on June 18 in the Liberty Stadium club shop and online.

A new away strip will also be unveiled within the coming weeks, while an exciting launch involving Swans supporters will also be revealed soon.