Qatar is a friend to Barcelona

The Catalan club have denied upsetting their south-west Asian sponsors with their new television contract and revealed that Wifi will be installed at Camp Nou as part of the deal
Barcelona's economic vice-president Javier Faus claims the club's relationship with Qatar has not been affected by the decision to sign a new television deal with Telefonica instead of renewing their current agreement with Mediapro.
Faus, speaking as Barca unveiled their new deal with the telecommunications company on Wednesday, denied reports that a member of the Qatari royal family had called the club to try and veto the Telefonica agreement and claimed the south-west Asian state remains "a friend of Barca".

"It's not true that the royal family called," Faus told reporters. "Qatar simply showed interest in how the television agreement would work out. Qatar has great links to many industries throughout the world, with Mediapro too.

"Qatar is a friend of Barca - and a friend of Mediapro as well."

Faus revealed that the new deal will bring around €40 million into the club coffers over the next three seasons, with an option to renew the agreement for a further two years.

"It's €13.3m yearly, €40m split over three years," he said. "The agreement has an option to be extended to make it five years in total."

The 50 year-old also revealed that Telefonica would help the club install Wifi for fans at Camp Nou, with "600 or 700 hotspots" giving Internet access to supporters during games.

"There is an agreement to develop Wifi at the stadium," he said. "It's a step forward. I believe there will be 600 to 700 hotspots and there should be Wifi at Camp Nou within six to nine months."

Telefonica are looking to build their business in South America and Faus claims Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez were fundamental in the new deal.

"It's obvious that the three forwards, the best in the world, were key to this agreement with Telefonica," he said.

Finally, Faus vowed the club would work with the Spain's Professional Football League (LFP) to crack down on abusive chants during games after a section of Barca fans were reported for singing derogatory songs against Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo in Sunday's 5-0 win over Levante.

"We will collaborate in everything," he said. "We will make our services available to the LFP. I don't know exactly what measures will be taken, but we will all do our bit with anti-violence measures."