Barca members vote to keep $225m Qatar shirt deal

Barcelona's members on Saturday backed the club's controversial sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment after a senior official said the deal would have a "substantial economic impact". The approval by 697 votes for to 76 against was the final hurdle to securing a cash injection of about $225 million over five years for displaying Qatar Foundation on the front of the jerseys. The club's economic vice president, Javier Faus told members that the board felt it had no choice but to accept shirt sponsorship because “it has a substantial economic impact”. Faus added that the agreement was reversible so “future boards to be able to change the decision". "We wanted to solve financial questions but didn’t want the agreement to be irreversible," Faus said in comments published on the official Barcelona website.He added that the deal with Qatar Sport Investment would finish when the current board’s mandate ends. Barca president Sandro Rosell and his board of directors had been lobbying members to vote in favour of the agreement amid criticism the club was compromising its ideals. The Spanish and European champions were one of the few sides in world soccer not to have a corporate logo on their shirts, instead displaying the name of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), for which they paid the organisation 1.5 million euros ($2 million) a year. Their shirts now carry the name Qatar Foundation on the front, with UNICEF relocated to the back below the player's name.Some members spoke out against the deal, pointing to what they said was Qatar's poor human rights record. Barcelona made a loss of 9.3 million euros last term, less than half the 24.1 million originally expected, while revenue rose 14 percent to a record 473 million euros. A net profit of 20.1 million euros has been budgeted for the current season, with income projected at 461 million euros. Earlier, Barca coach Pep Guardiola posted his support for Qatar in the run-up to the vote in which he extolled the Gulf state, calling it "the most open Muslim country". Guardiola, who played for Qatar's Al Ahly between 2003 and 2005, added: “It’s very good that we debate this and also a very good decision of the board’s to let the members decide on it. It’s one of the healthy democratic values we have. "I can tell you that I lived for two years in Qatar and my family and I received wonderful treatment." Barcelona's legendary former Dutch coach Johan Cruyff is among the high profile opponents of the Qatar Foundation deal, calling it "vulgar". The Qatar Foundation, founded in 1995, has set up projects focusing on education, scientific research and community development, mainly in the Middle East. Barcelona won the Spanish league and the Champions League last season but despite success on the field the club is struggling financially.