Barcelona will celebrate Canadian rapper Drake with a logo on the front of their shirts in the Clasico against Real Madrid on Sunday, as part of their Spotify sponsorship deal.
To celebrate Drake becoming the first artist to reach 50 billion plays on the music streaming platform, Barcelona and Spotify have agreed to replace the brand's logo with an owl silhouette.
The logo is the image of OVO (October's Very Own), a clothing brand owned by Drake, who placed a bet of over 800 000 Canadian dollars (600 000 US dollars) on Barcelona and Arsenal, who are playing Leeds in the Premier League on Sunday, to both win their games.
He posted a photo of his betting slip on Instagram on Sunday, showing he could win a payout of 3.9 million Canadian dollars.
?? @Drake ???
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 14, 2022
First artist to hit 50 billion @Spotify streams. First artist to share the @FCBarcelona shirt. pic.twitter.com/cBiHjge5FG
"This doesn't feel real but it is," said Drake on the social networking app on Friday, posting a picture of himself holding a Barcelona shirt emblazoned with the owl design.
"Our alliance with Spotify goes beyond a mere commercial relationship," said Barcelona's vice-president for marketing, Juli Guiu.
"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."
Barcelona signed a sponsorship deal with the Swedish company in March which also saw their stadium officially renamed the Spotify Camp Nou, worth a reported 300 million euros (292 million dollars).