Barcelona to establish New York base

Spanish Liga football club Barcelona has sealed a long-term extension to its sponsorship agreement with German automotive manufacturer Audi and has also announced that it will open a new club office in New York.

The fresh deal with Audi will run through until 2018. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Audi is a premium partner of Barcelona, sitting in the club’s second sponsorship tier alongside Catalan beer brand Estrella Damm, savings bank La Caixa and home appliances company Beko.

Barcelona signed an agreement running through the 2017-18 season with Beko in June, while Estrella Damm penned an extension covering the same period in October.

In a club statement detailing its New York office, Barcelona identified the United States as “one of the club’s most important commercial, digital and media priorities”.

Barcelona already has a Hong Kong office and that branch’s success in the east Asian market was highlighted as a driving factor in the New York expansion.