Mes Que Un Club. A moto that stretches far beyond football and now, with their
partnership with Spotify, FC Barcelona are redefining football fashion with a musical
twist.
Barcelona is a club rich in history, boasting some of the most talented players to ever
grace the game.
Messi’s magical meandering, Ronaldinho’s fantastic flair and Cruyff’s terrific turns
have all shaped and defined one of the world’s biggest clubs.
Most Barcelona fans’ first shirts will boast Messi, Suarez, Neymar or Ronaldinho.
Whether its the Catalan colours of the away shirts or the famed blue and red of the home, Barcelona are one of the most commercially recognisable football clubs in the game.
This trend will resonate with millions of people across the globe, who grew up watching the
best players in the world wear these notorious stripes. But, in recent years, Barcelona have taken a greater step as a football fashion pioneer in their partnership with Spotify.
Throughout the 2010’s, the Blaugrana featured a few different sponsors. Qatar
Foundation, Qatar Airways and Rakuten all were donned in the club’s twilight years,
despite the off-field financial problems.
In 2021, Barcelona recorded debts of over $1.31 Billion, with their inflated wage bill
consuming over 110% of revenue, violating FFP regulations. Following this financial despair, in 2022, the partnership was announced, with the music outlet becoming the stadium named correspondent and official on-shirt
sponsor.
What was seen as a shameless partnership to promote concerts, and music has
become one of the most defining deals in football.
The deal itself is valued at around $310 Million, the most lucrative in the club’s
history, with the individual shirt sponsorship being worth roughly $60 Million per
season.
Spotify began changing its front of shirt sponsor for El Classico’s, featuring the
biggest music artists across the world.
Whilst this isn’t uncommon for the conventional sponsor x club relationship, what
makes this collaboration so unique is its creativity.
Drake was the first artist of appear, with his OVO owls donning the front of the 22/23
home shirt, where Barca ran out 2-1 winners against Real Madrid, before storming to
a La Liga title. The Toronto born rapper surpassed 50 billion streams on Spotify, which was
celebrated by his El Classico appearance.
Since then, countless celebrities have flocked to the Estadi Olimpic with the eyes of
the globe firmly fixed on this ground-breaking partnership.
This year particularly, Travis Scott made waves in his collaboration with Barcelona,
taking his place amongst the list of on-shirt sponsors.
Uniquely, however, Scott and Barcelona combined to produce their own fashion line,
including a range of vintage hoodies, hats and scarves, taking inspiration from the
club’s history and combining with the Cactus Jack brand.
The crème de la crème of this collab is the hoodie.
A brown hoodie, sporting the infamous Catalan crest, a reverse Nike tick, with Travis
Scott’s Cactus Jack logo spanning the length on the left arm.
This, alongside the 2000/01 Cactus Jack home shirt remake are a testament to the
quality of this partnership and have had consumers, including myself, salivating at its
beauty.
In the past, Travis Scott has been involved in massive partnerships, joining forces
with Nike and Air Jordan to release Cactus Jack Jordan 4’s, Dunks and Air Forces –
all of which have been resold for exponential fees.
But this collab is by far the most ambitious. His high-fashion clothing, alongside the God-given talent of Lamine Yamal is a football’s connoisseurs’ biggest fantasy.
With sponsorships being a hotly contested topic in recent times, it’s clear that clubs
are expanding their horizons to find new and creative ways to increase promotion.
However, one thing is for certain, Barcelona and Spotify are a match made in
footballing heaven.