Barcelona is ready to land in Dubai. And to do it in style, through a real estate project that includes the establishment of several “Barça Cafés” and “Barça stores” in the city. All that is needed is the green light from the Assembly, and the capital of the United Arab Emirates will prepare to host a small “ciudad blaugrana” with various commercial establishments ready to sell Barcelona-branded products. But that’s not all: in nearby Abu Dhabi, also in the United Arab Emirates, Barça is working – through the licensing of its brand – on the construction of a complex of buildings that will be called “Barça Towers.” The club intends to license its brand for the construction of four towers in a luxury area of Abu Dhabi, which will also include a “Barça Store” and a small museum. The planned partnership is long-term, lasting between 30 and 40 years. According to what is reported by the Mundo Deportivo, the blaugrana club has already received an initial payment between six and eight million euros and expects to earn about ten million a year from this operation.
This is not the first time a top club has decided to license its brand for real estate operations abroad, especially in the Middle East. Manchester City, for example, has launched – also in Abu Dhabi – a major operation called “Manchester City Yas. Residence by Ohana”: this is a project that will be completed by 2030 and involves the construction of 2000 luxury residential units over an area of 1.67 million square meters. Chelsea has also initiated a similar operation, this time in Dubai. The London club has struck a deal with real estate giant DAMAC for the construction of the “Chelsea Residences” in the Emirati city. Essentially, these are towers with a football field on the roof at a height of 130 meters, with a statue of a blue lion (the club’s symbol) at their entrance. Real Madrid, on the other hand, has chosen to take a different path (though similar from a commercial perspective), with the project of the “Real Madrid World”: a theme park inaugurated in Dubai in 2024, obviously dedicated entirely to the Blancos.
Returning to Barça, the project that will lead to the creation of new commercial spaces in Dubai also includes the addition of a new sponsor on the back of the blaugrana team’s jersey, which, however, could not be displayed in Champions League matches as expressly prohibited by UEFA. The logo, Ohana Development (a leading company in luxury real estate development based in the United Arab Emirates), will therefore only be present in Liga and Copa del Rey matches and will replace the current UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). The club expects an annual income of about ten million euros from this sponsorship. Barcelona is thus preparing to arrive in the Middle East, following the example of other top clubs. A new frontier of an increasingly global football.