Barcelona will wear shirts bearing hip hop artist Drake’s OVO logo during Sunday’s El Clasico against Real Madrid, as part of their sponsorship deal with Spotify.
Barcelona’s kits this season usually contain the Spotify logo, with the Catalan club and streaming giant entering a four-year shirt sponsorship deal at the beginning of this season.
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But Drake’s distinctive owl silhouette logo, used on his clothing range and record label, has been chosen to replace the Spotify emblem to celebrate the Canadian singer’s 50 billion streams on the streaming service — a feat no other artist has achieved.
Barcelona will also wear brand new warm-up shirts at the Santiago Bernabeu, with ‘DRAKE 50’ on the back and the Spotify logo on the front.
Drake, the 35-year-old four-time Grammy winner, has previously been pictured wearing several teams’ kits, including Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester City and Manchester United.
Nos gusta mucho 💙🦉❤️ pic.twitter.com/F46RW6WDn0
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) October 14, 2022
Juli Guiu, Barcelona’s vice president for marketing, said: “Our alliance with Spotify goes beyond a mere commercial relationship.
“As we have stated on numerous occasions, it is a strategic relationship through which we seek to bring together two worlds that can arouse emotion, namely music and football. This initiative is another example of this desire and the innovative spirit of our collaboration.”
Mark Hazan, Spotify’s vice president of partnerships, views their collaboration with Barcelona as “a celebration of fans, players and artist’s on a global stage”.
Barcelona travel to Real as La Liga leaders, ahead of their rivals on goal difference. Though they lead the league, their recent form has been somewhat indifferent and includes a 1-0 loss and 3-3 draw against Inter Milan in the Champions League.
Real, meanwhile, needed a last-minute Antonio Rudiger header to draw 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.
Real will be out for redemption on Sunday, having suffered a 4-0 defeat by Barcelona in this fixture in March. That said, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have often been too good for Barcelona in recent years, winning four of the past five meetings.
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(Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
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