Barça exploring franchise club model in Qatar

FC Barcelona could have a franchise team in Qatar as Catalan sports daily ‘Mundo Deportivo’ maintain that club president Joan Laporta has been approached by a consortium of businessmen from the Arab nation with a series of meetings regarding the proposal having taken place. Barcelona could be the pioneer in creating a franchise that would participate in the local domestic league with Qatar looking to push their domestic Stars League forward.

Laporta was in Doha last week with club directors Xavier Puig and Joan Soler and met with businessmen from the Baladi Holding. The president of the group, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Attiyah was a recent guest at Camp Nou attending the Barcelona-Mallorca game.

As things stand, negotiations are still very much at the embryonic stage with the proposal is being seriously considered by the Barcelona board given the club’s poor financial situation.

This multi-club franchise model has been pioneered by the City Group, owners of Manchester City as they currently oversee or have significant shareholdings in the likes of: New York City FC (USA), Melbourne City (Australia), Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), Montevideo City Torque (Uruguay), Girona FC (Spain) , Sichuan Jiuniu (China) and Mumbai City FC (India).

Saudi threat

With the current rampant spending being conducted by clubs in Saudi Arabia, which already boasts players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema at Al Nassr and Al Ittihad, Qatar is anxious not to be overshadowed by its neighbour and the launch of a local incarnation of FC Barcelona would thrust the local competition back under a global spotlight.