Barcelona Directors OK Two-Year Extension Of UNICEF Shirt Deal To 2016

Barcelona has extended to '16 a deal with UNICEF under which the La Liga side pays $2M a year "to display the name of the United Nations Children's Fund" on the back of its shirts, according to Iain Rogers of REUTERS. The current agreement "was due to expire next year and the Barca directors approved a two-year extension at a board meeting on Tuesday." Barcelona and UNICEF first joined forces in '06 "and Barca's Argentine World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is one of the fund's global goodwill ambassadors." The club used to have the UNICEF name on the front of its shirts, which made it "one of the few sides in football not to display a corporate logo" (REUTERS, 11/11).