Liga BBVA: FC Barcelona present its 2016-17 home kit without a main shirt sponsor

FC Barcelona (Liga BBVA) and Nike, the American sports equipment manufacturer, presented the home kit of the Catalan club for the 2016-17 season, on 30/05/2016. The new shirt, on sale (online and in stores) since 30/05/2016, is devoid of any main sponsor.

The airline Qatar Airways was the main shirt sponsor of FC Barcelona with a deal worth €96m, excluding bonuses, over the 2013-2016 period. The extension of the partnership, lasting until 2019-20 and amounting to €60m per season, was announced by the Spanish daily paper Mundo Deportivo on 09/06/2015. Nevertheless, club president Josep Maria Bartomeu and vice-president Manel Arroyo returned from a trip to Doha (Qatar) without having managed to conclude a new agreement with the airline on 21/10/2015.

The management of FC Barcelona had wanted to submit the decision on the choice of its future shirt sponsor (extension with Qatar Airways or a new partner) to the socios of the club in a vote at the Ordinary General Meeting on 25/10/2015. The club then decided to postpone the decision in order to "give a new deadline for the conclusion of…