DR Congo emblem to return to Barcelona training kits after brief pause – report

DR Congo emblem to return to Barcelona training kits after brief pause – report It was reported yesterday that the DR Congo emblem, a key sponsor for Barcelona, had disappeared from the club’s training kits. It was revealed that the pause in the display of the sponsor was due to a delay in payment and that there were no material issues with the agreement itself. A brief disappearance explained According to SPORT , the DR Congo emblem is set to return to Barcelona’s training shirts following the international break. The badge had vanished at the start of the season, with reports revealing that they were simply waiting to receive the €10 million payment due for the current campaign. The DR Congo emblem will return to Barcelona kits soon. (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images) Those same sources have since confirmed there are no issues with the agreement, and that the stipulated payment has now been received. As a result, the “DR Congo – Coeur de l’Afrique” emblem will return to both the training shirts and static advertising, with the African nation’s branding already visible at the Palau Blaugrana this past weekend. The partnership, announced last summer , is a four-year deal expected to bring Barcelona around €40 million, a figure that could rise to €44 million depending on various add-ons. It was considered a significant boost for the club’s Financial Fair Play situation. A deal not without controversy The agreement has, however, been a source of controversy since it was first signed. Some Barcelona fans have questioned the ethics of forming an alliance with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. DR Congo has always been at the heart of political debate. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images) Furthermore, a complaint was filed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office last May, alleging money laundering, embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power, implicating those responsible for the contract and the country’s Minister of Sport. That complaint is an extension of a similar one filed by Congolese citizens regarding a comparable deal signed between their government and AS Monaco, while an agreement between the Congolese government and AC Milan is also under investigation. Barcelona, for their part, maintain that the complaint has nothing to do with the club, insisting it is a matter of commissions between the various intermediaries involved in the agreement. For now, the immediate concern has been resolved, with the payment received and the emblem set to reappear. The deal remains a valuable revenue stream for Barcelona, even if the wider ethical questions surrounding it are unlikely to disappear entirely.