Barça to wear the logo of the singer, Drake, on the front of their jersey against Real Madrid

One of the main ideas behind the alliance between FC Barcelona and Spotify is to bring football and music together in order to connect with new audiences around the world. As both are capable of bringing people together and exciting fans, for the first time, the men’s football team will enter the pitch for Sunday’s Clásico wearing a jersey featuring the logo of an internationally acclaimed artist – rapper and singer Drake, winner of 4 Grammy awards and the first to surpass 50 billion streams on Spotify – rather than their main partner’s logo.

So, on October 16, instead of seeing the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service logo on the front of the Barça jersey, those watching the game against Real Madrid will see the silhouette of an owl - the logo of the Canadian singer’s brand. Spotify has given this privileged space on the jersey as part of the framework of the partnership with the Club, just one of the actions that both brands are putting into place to offer innovative experiences for football fans, as well as helping to reach new audiences through music.

As was announced when the agreement was ratified, this type of exchange on the front of the jersey is scheduled to happen more as the season progresses.

When it comes to communicating the design that the players are set to wear, the Club and Spotify have been supported by none other than the singer himself, who published a post featuring the jersey on his Instagram account to his over 120 million followers. The Club and Spotify also joined in the unveiling across their own social networks.

Celebration of a record

By including Drake’s logo on the front of the jersey, Barça and Spotify aim to celebrate the singer’s milestone of becoming the first artist to achieve 50 billion streams of his songs on the platform.

Drake - who has already shown his preference for Barça by wearing the jersey - is behind albums like ‘Take Care’ or ‘Certified Lover Boy’ . He is breaking records with his singles, is number 1 on the leading charts around the world, and has earned over 275 awards during his career, including four Grammy awards, considered one of the main international accolades for music.

As part of the initiative to recognise the singer’s achievement, Xavi’s squad are scheduled to wear a special version of the jersey during the pre-match warm up, featuring the number 50 on the back, with the Spotify logo on the front.

A strategic alliance 

The collaboration between FC Barcelona and Spotify began on July 1 this year. It is part of the Club’s strategic aim to proactively seek out partners that share the same values and philosophy, while also helping reinforce the Club’s position as a global benchmark both on and off the pitch within an increasingly competitive landscape.

Statement by Juli Guiu, Vice-president for the Marketing area of FC Barcelona

“Our alliance with Spotify goes beyond a mere commercial relationship. As we have stated on numerous occasions, it is a strategic relationship through which we seek to bring together two worlds that can arouse emotion, namely music and football. This initiative is another example of this desire and the innovative spirit of our collaboration. For the first time in our history, we are replacing the name of our main partner on the front of the jersey with an internationally acclaimed artist in Drake, winner of 4 Grammy awards and record breaker in different categories, such as being the first artist to accumulate 50 billion streams on Spotify. 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.”

Statement by Marc Hazan, Spotify VP of Partnerships

“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 artist’s on a global stage—and there’s no bigger stage than El Clásico.”