Pique and Shakira help Barcelona get a sponsor

Barcelona v Athletic Club - Copa del Rey Final
Barcelona and Spain star Gerard Pique with pop star Shakira. Image Source: twitter

Internet Desk: Spanish football giants Barcelona have signed an agreement worth £200m for shirt sponsorship deal with Japanese technology company Rakuten. The person behind the deal is defender Gerard Pique and his popstar wife Shakira.

The couple are friends with Rakuten’s chief executive Hiroshi Mikitani and organised a dinner in San Francisco last year where the “foundations” of the partnership were laid, revealed Barca vice president Manel Arroyo.

The initial talks for the deal started at a dinner hosted by Pique at his friend Mikitani’s house in San Francisco in 2015. Both Pique and Shakira organized the dinner.

“We met there and we spoke about the future and Rakuten’s interest – Pique helped us a lot here.

The agreement with Rakuten – who already have involvement in football through their ownership of J-League outfit Vissel Kobe – will be ratified at an extraordinary meeting of club members “in the coming weeks,” said Mr Arroyo.

Rakuten will replace Qatar Airways as shirt sponsors. The Qatar Foundation and then Qatar Airways have been involved in sponsorship of Barca for over six years and it has taken the club over a year longer than initially expected to find their replacement.

Bartomeu described the deal as “good for Barcelona” and lauded Pique, whose grandfather, Amador Bernabeu, is a former vice-president of the club and it seems the defender has a similar entrepreneurial spirit.