Barcelona in a deal with Hitachi

Adjust font size:

The Primera Liga club signed a sponsorship agreement with Hitachi digital Media Group. The agreement will see Hitachi placing LCD, and plasma screens and DVD equipment in the hospitality areas of the Camp Nou stadium.

Despite reports in the media that a deal was in place, the club is still looking for a shirt sponsor. The deal with the club is expected to be one of the largest in football. Ferran Soriano, the club’s finance chief, said any reports about a deal being imminent with a Chinese company, or any company, were premature. “China isn’t the first option anymore,” he said. “It was unfortunate that an agreement was announced in the media before it had been sealed. The offers are getting better every day but we’re asking for a lot of money and don’t want the deal just to be a mere financial support. It has to contribute.”

Soriano said a sponsorship deal with betting firm Betandwin was still an option despite concerns from some fan groups about an association with gambling. “I don’t think this has any grounding,” he said. “Gambling is one of the oldest businesses in the world. Everybody’s opinion is valid but bets have been part of the landscape of football for a long time and will continue to be so in the future.”

Soriano said the club must be patient while searching for the right deal. “I don’t think it’s fair to say that this issue should have been settled already. We would prefer to have done so but now we’re getting into a better position,” he said. “One of the problems is that the big companies prefer English clubs because the market is double what it is in Spain. It’s better to have the money in the bank already but we need to be careful to get the deal right because it will define future negotiations and it will not be to our advantage if we beginning from a low starting point.” The issue is expected to be settled long before the next scheduled club elections, set for 2007. President Joan Laporta has revealed that it is his intention to use the club shirt to publicise a humanitarian message at some stage in the future.