Barcelona offered a chance to open a franchise in the Qatari League – report | OneFootball

Over the past week, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta spent a lot of time in Qatar as he held several meetings and attended various events in a bid to generate fresh revenue for the club.

Much of the trip was spent in meetings with Bahadi Holding, whose chairman, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Attiyah, had already paid a visit to Spotify Camp Nou in the season gone by.

While Laporta strengthened ties with the Qatari businessmen, Mundo Deportivo is also reporting an intriguing development that emerged from the Barcelona president’s visit to the Asian nation.

As per the report, Barcelona were offered an opportunity to open a franchise club in the Qatari League by the local businessmen, as an idea to attract more big clubs in the future.

Obviously, the proposal is in very nascent stages and the model needs to be studied carefully for legal and other possible repercussions.

But it is an avenue that the Catalan giants might consider exploring especially given the financial situation at the club.

The owners of Manchester City operate under such a model with the City Football Group owning several franchises across the globe such as New York City FC (USA), Mumbai City FC (India), Girona (Spain), Melbourne City FC (Australia), and Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), among others.

As mentioned earlier, the idea is in the very initial stages and Barcelona could look into the possibility given their popularity across the globe and the revenue streams that such a might open up.