FC Barcelona and Nike inc. have reached an agreement to extend their current deal by five years until 2013. The deal is thought to be worth around 150m Euros (189m Dollars). The agreement also includes a clause whereby the contract can be extended five years more until the year 2018.
"FC Barcelona is one of the best football teams and one of the most attractive to watch. We are extremely satisfied in extending this contract", said Mark Marker, president and CEO of Nike Inc. "The relationships we hold with top football clubs such as FC Barcelona help us to maintain our role in the world's most popular sport and to be the most important brand in the world of football".
'More than a club to the world'
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FC Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, also has expressed his satisfaction with the deal struck with Nike: "The agreement is an international recognition of the level the club has achieved both by its on field success and social commitments". Joan Laporta also said that "we value the force that Nike gives and that it will continue to provide because FC Barcelona is more than a club to the world".
The contribution to the positionThe virtue of Nike as a sponsor means that FC Barcelona will be involved in significant marketing campaigns during the five year deal, which will help contribute to the recognition of FC Barcelona being more than a club to the world. In this sense, the club will reach a five year agreement with UNICEF; giving its support to diverse projects laid out under the millennium objectives of the United Nations.
A lasting relationship
The relationship between Nike and FC Barcelona started in 1998. Nowadays the North American business supplies over fifty countries with the FC Barcelona brand, its t-shirts being one of the most popular in the world. FC Barcelona is also gaining in popularity in the US, where they took part in a pre-season tour of New York, Los Angeles and Houston, with over 240,000 supporters in total.
Nike: Leader in footballNike has transformed itself into the leading brand in world football; from a business worth 40 million Dollars in 1994 to 1.5 billion Dollars today. Nike currently sponsors 32 clubs and 18 national teams, therefore has connections to a large number of the world's best players.
