No Shirt, No Service

either way...

On the 24th of September, the Barça club members will have a vote to potentially abort the vastly lucrative €150 million deal their president recently signed with the Qatar Foundation. The agreement, which saw the team put a corporate sponsor on the front of their kit for the first time in the 111 year history of the club, has been widely reviled by the more 'romantic' supporters of the team.

Johann Cruyff himself came out as calling it "vulgar," and the decision to put the chest real estate for sale has shaken the confidence of many--myself included--who took the crest of being 'more than a club' as symbolic also of a moral high-ground that the little giants held in the world of sport beyond their athletic achievement.

Barça had paid UNICEF nearly €1.5 million a year for the privilege of bearing the organization's mark on their chest. It was a clear reminder of the persecution that the team had faced during the Franco-era and their commitment to human rights in it's wake. UNICEF is still on the kit, but as a tramp-stamp along the bottom of the back.

For their parts, Pep Guardiola and club pres. Sandro Roselli have been vocal in their support of the Qatari sponsorship, but with the ballooning club debt and increasingly astronomical operating costs of the world's greatest team clearly at the forefront of club logistics, it seems like they are simply trying to put the best face on an unsavory situation.


Alexis seems to have a problem with the shirt

A few weeks back, during the 5-0 routing of Villa Real, new signee (and €26 million brick in the wall) Alexis Sanchez scored in his first Liga appearance for the squad. Hot with excitement from his victory, the Chilean forward pulled off his jersey during his celebration like a regular mook.

The bench looked furious; the players looked annoyed. The team huddled around him, partially to cover him from the ref's view in a vain attempt at avoiding a yellow card, and partially to talk some sense into him. You could see Iniesta delivering some words.

Even with the Qatar Foundation corporate mark on the jersey, it still means something.

Wear it with pride.