5 most shocking decisions taken by Barcelona in the last decade

#4 Qatar Airways sponsorship

Qatar Airways was Barcelona's shirt sponsor for three years

For over a century, Barcelona had a no shirt sponsorship deal, with the front of their shirts remaining bare without any brand advertising, which went against the practice by other clubs who crested brand names across the front of their shirts.

Football matches are among the most watched events in the world, with the bigger clubs having global followings that run into their hundreds of millions every week, so having your brand or product on shirts of such clubs is an advertising goldmine (and also financially rewarding for the clubs).

Barcelona however decided against following the trend and this went in line with the club's motto of mes que un club (more than just a club), as it was believed that promoting the club's core values were more important than profitability, which would have been the case had the club advertised across the front of their shirts.

When the club did decide to have a name crested on their shirt front, it came in collaboration with UNICEF, with any proceeds going into making the world a better place by taking care of the welfare of children.

This all changed however in 2013 when the club entered a very lucrative shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways valued to be worth around £25m a year to display Qatar Airways at the front of their shirt.

At the time of signing, it was the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in history and Barcelona came under a lot of pressure for it, as not only were they breaking a 117 year old policy, but Qatar was also infamous for its human rights violation as a country and its treatment of migrant workers.

Barcelona sacrificed its morals and club values on the altar of commercial profit and this was unexpected to say the least. Qatar Airways has since been replaced by another Asian e commerce giant.