Spanish Liga football club Barcelona has reached a deal with Telefónica to make the telecommunications company a regional partner in Latin America for the next three seasons.
Telefónica will use the partnership with Barcelona to promote its Movistar and Vivo brands across the region, including Mexico.
Barcelona said in a statement: “This agreement with Telefónica comes at a time when the company has great commercial links with Latin America that connect perfectly with the sporting potential of our club. A potential that can count on the best players in the world, much admired South American stars such as (Lionel) Messi, Neymar, (Luis) Suárez, (Claudio) Bravo, (Javier) Mascherano and (Dani) Alves amongst others.”
Barcelona has enjoyed a range of collaborations with Telefónica dating back to 2003 and the latest sponsorship comes alongside the company replacing the Mediapro agency as Barcelona’s official domestic broadcast rights-holder for the 2015-16 season- a deal reported to be worth in the region of €140m ($159m).