Barcelona will sport the owl logo of Drake’s OVO Sound label on their jerseys instead of main sponsors Spotify when they take on Real Madrid in Sunday’s clasico to mark the Canadian rapper surpassing 50 billion streams on the music platform.
Barcelona, who were one of the last major clubs without a shirt sponsor, said the move was part of their efforts to bring football and music together.
Four-time Grammy award winner Drake posted an image of the limited-edition jersey on Instagram to his more than 120 million followers.
“This doesn’t feel real but it is,” 35-year-old Drake said on Instagram.
“For the first time in our history, we are replacing the name of our main sponsor on the front of the jersey with an internationally acclaimed artist, Drake,” said Juli Guiu, Barcelona’s marketing vice-president.
“This initiative shows our potential to become a unique platform to offer experiences that help bring us closer to our fans while reaching out to new audiences around the world.”
Spotify’s vice-president of partnerships, Marc Hazan, said: “We were really excited to celebrate one of the biggest games of the year and mark Drake’s milestone as the first artist to reach 50 billion streams.
“We’ve always said that we want this partnership to be a celebration of fans, players and artists on a global stage – and there’s no bigger stage than el clasico.”Barca lead Real Madrid in La Liga table on goal difference but go into the first clasico of the season on the back of a 33-3 draw with Italian side Inter Milan that leaves them on the brink of elimination from the Champions League. (National)
