Barcelona will wear a special kit featuring the logo from Catalan pop star Rosalia’s “MOTOMAMI” album for Sunday’s LaLiga Clasico against Real Madrid at Camp Nou.
The iconography will appear on the front of the jersey, replacing the usual Spotify sponsor branding, and will also be worn by the club’s women’s team when they host Madrid in Liga F a week later on March 25.
– Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Stream LIVE 3/19, 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+ (U.S.)
The publicity stunt is part of Barca’s sponsorship deal with Spotify and marks the one-year anniversary of the album and Rosalia’s success on the music streaming service.
Rosalia, who was born in San Cugat, 30 minutes north of Barcelona, was the most-streamed Spanish artist in the world on Spotify in 2022. Tracks from the album “MOTOMAMI” have been streamed over 1.8 billion times.
Barca announced Spotify as their principle partner in March last year when, in addition to shirt sponsorship, the club also sold the naming rights to their Camp Nou stadium to the Swedish company.
This will be the second time Barca’s shirt has been used to promote an artist as part of the agreement. For the league Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu in October, they replaced the Spotify logo with Canadian rapper and singer Drake’s emblem.
Fans of both Barca and Rosalia will even be able to get their hands on the one-off shirt — although they will need to dip into their pockets to do so. Barca have announced that 1,899 shirts — a nod to the year the club was founded — will be sold for €399 ($420) and an additional 22 limited edition jerseys will be on sale for €1,999.99 ($2,114.)
It is not the first time entertainment and football have come together in the name of promotion. In the early 2000s, Atletico Madrid used their shirts to promote a series of movies. As part of an agreement with Columbia Pictures, Atletico included branding for films such as “Spider-Man 2,” “Resident Evil,” “Hitch,” “White Chicks” and “Bad Boys 2” among others.
More recently, The Rolling Stones launched their own line of special Paris Saint-Germain merchandise, which includes football shirts as well as bizarre offerings such as sneakers, moped helmets and skateboards.
Bob Marley has also graced several kits with both Dutch giants Ajax and Northern Irish side Bohemians releasing tributes to the Jamaican reggae legend in the past few years.
