FC Barcelona will play next season with Spotify’s logo on the front of their shirts, but for certain games, the popular music streaming service might give way to specific artists looking to advertise on one of the most celebrated jerseys in sports.
According to Barca Universal, Spotify might shine a spotlight on certain artists like Shakira (whose husband Gerard Piqué “coincidentally” plays for Barça), The Weeknd and more by putting their names and logos on the front of the shirt.
#FCB 🔵🔴
💥 La revolución que puede llegar con la camiseta del Barça 22-23
👉 El acuerdo entre Barça y Spotify convertirá la camiseta "en un espacio que pueda rendir homenaje a distintos artistas de todo el mundo"https://t.co/uxHQetdEQv
— Diario SPORT (@sport) March 16, 2022
This isn’t without precedent in the soccer world. Recently, Ed Sheeran took up ad space on the shirt of Ipswich Town F.C., and Irish band Fontaines D.C. collaborated with Bohemians FC for a special edition shirt.
In the early 2000s, too, Atletico Madrid had an agreement with Columbia Pictures that included their shirts advertising movie releases like “Spiderman 2,” “Anaconda” and “Hitch.”
Scottish Premiership team Heart of Midlothian even played into a plotline from HBO’s “Succession” for some special-edition jerseys.
Spotify also now owns the rights to Barcelona’s famed stadium, the Camp Nou (now dba as Spotify Camp Nou), and will implement “state of the art technology in the new stadium to promote artists,” so there’s a chance that the shirt corresponds to some sort of interactive promotional displays for each artist.
Given the sport’s enormous global popularity, soccer jerseys are one of the best forms of advertisement in the world, and teams are figuring out new ways to use that precious ad space in creative ways, like using QR codes for promotional programs.
With Barcelona being one of the most famous sports teams in existence, any artist who gets some time in front of the Blaugrana stripes is getting prime advertising placement.
