Catalan Television station TV3 has reported that FC Barcelona has agreed to wear the UNICEF logo on their famous Barca shirts next season.
FC Barcelona have never had a shirt sponsor in their over 100 years history, but have agreed to break with the tradition to support the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). A presentation will be made at the United Nations Headquarters in New York when the official contract will be signed.


Barca had several record-breaking sponsorship deals before, but Barcelona president Joan Laporta has always remained sensitive about a commercial sponsorship with a company's name on the jersey because it could have caused opposition among the club's faithful supporters.


Barca, the biggest football club in the world, are "more than a club" and are happy to be seen as a humanitarian club that wants to give his share to fight racism and poverty around the world. Barca already agreed a charity deal with UNICEF last month. The agreement between UNICEF and FC Barcelona will see Barca donate 0.7 % of their annual income (estimated to be over € 2 mill. next year) to the UN-Charity fund from the start of the 2006-07 season. FC Barcelona became the first football club ever to formally support the UN Millennium Development Goals campaign and hopes that other rich football Clubs will follow. The UN Millennium Development Goals campaign aims to halving extreme poverty, limiting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015 anog other targets.