Barcelona announced a special jersey with the OVO logo, the Drake brand, against Real Madrid on Sunday. The move is to celebrate the rapper/singer becoming the first artist to surpass 50 billion streams on Spotify.
The streaming service previously partnered with Barca earlier in the year. From the current campaign and for four seasons, the LaLiga club will normally wear shirts with the Spotify logo on the chest. The deal with the streaming service nets Barca $77 million per year.
“Our alliance with Spotify goes beyond a mere business relationship,” said Juli Guiu, Barça’s vice president of marketing. As we have stated on numerous occasions, it is a strategic relationship through which we seek to bring together two worlds that can arouse emotions, such as music and football”.
“For the first time in our history, we are replacing our main partner’s name on the front of the shirt with an internationally renowned artist in Drake, winner of 4 Grammy Awards and a record holder in different categories, such as being the first artist to accumulate 50 billion streams on Spotify.
Barcelona will wear the shirt with the Drake logo
“This initiative shows our potential to become a unique platform to deliver experiences that help us get closer to our fans and reach new audiences around the world.”
As well as displaying the OVO logo on their shirts for the big game, Barca are also creating unique pre-game shirts. All players will wear jerseys with the number 50 on the back and ‘DRAKE’ as their nameplate.
Barça vs Real Madrid is one of the biggest clashes in the sports world. This weekend’s match is even more special as it is the 250th meeting between the two historic clubs. Barça and Real are also currently level on points at the top of the LaLiga table.
The latest version of El Clásico will kick off in Madrid at 10:15 am ET on ESPN+.
PHOTO: @fcbarcelona / Twitter