Each body: The Democratic Congo logo has been printed on the back of the Barcelona training suit, but this sponsorship cannot be activated for the time being

August 24, The Daily Sports reported that Barcelona returned to training this week with a striking detail, with the new logo of the Democratic Congo printed on the back of the training suit.

This is the result of a sponsorship agreement between Barcelona and the Democratic Republic of the Congo a few weeks ago, and according to different sources, the four-year contract is worth about €44 million and is expected to bring economic relief to the club. However, in the short term, this fund cannot be directly used to register players or expand the lineup expenditure, because of the economic control regulations of La Liga.

When calculating the sports lineup cost limit (LCPD), the famous salary "fair competition" rule, the income from broadcasting rights, ticket revenue, event revenue, and commercial revenue (advertising, sponsorship, etc.) must be included. In other words, in theory, contracts such as the Democratic Congolese government should raise the available wage ceiling.

La Liga economic rules stipulate that clubs must adjust their budgets based on balance of revenue and prohibit lineup spending from exceeding revenue. Only after the balance of income and expenditure can new income actually affect the wage limit. According to reports from La Liga sources, if the standards are not met, the income must be used to settle the agency's debts.

In practice, Barcelona is still labeled as an over-club club. This means that as long as the 1:1 absolute account balance is not achieved, any additional revenue—whether new sponsorship, commercial contract or season ticket growth—cannot be converted into LCPD for registered players immediately.

This creates a paradox. Although the sponsorship agreement of Democratic Congo is a life-saving straw for the medium term, it itself is not the key to registering new players. Barcelona must first reach the required balance of income and expenditure before they can fully activate the sponsorship and include it in the salary limit calculation.

La Liga news sources guarantee that once Barcelona regained a 1:1 balance, the club's LCPD will be updated immediately, and the advertising revenue reached with the Congolese government can be included in the expenditure limit, and see if Barcelona can achieve this goal by September 1.