‍‍‍‍

It was reported that La Liga giants Barcelona would announce its shirt sponsor for next season within the next week. The current candidates are the United States’ Amazon Group, China's Alibaba Group and Japan’s Lotte Group. At present, western media are more optimistic about cooperation between Alibaba and Barcelona. 

At present, Barcelona's main shirt sponsor is Qatar Airways. The two sides began to cooperate in 2013. They extended their contract to June 2017 this summer. After Manchester United and Chelsea signed up with sponsors who paid a huge amount of money for shirt sponsorship, Barcelona are now somewhat envious. Barcelona wanted to get more cash from Qatar Airways, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. The offer made by Qatar did not reach Barcelona's expectations.

Earlier in this week, the Spanish "Daily Sport” newspaper reported that Qatar Airways would no longer be Barcelona's shirt sponsor after the present contract expires. The two sides will still cooperate, but in other areas. The reason why they will maintain the partnership is the current financial pressure on Barcelona. 

‍‍Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin‍‍