Barcelona’s training ground has become the setting for an unexplained change at the opening of the 2026-27 season: the “DR Congo – Heart of Africa” branding is no longer visible on several training and warm-up shirts used by the Catalan club’s professional sides.
The disappearance comes after months of scrutiny around Barcelona’s commercial agreement with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The club has not issued a public explanation for the absent logo, leaving the status of the arrangement unclear.
A four-season agreement under scrutiny
- In mid-2025, Barcelona entered a strategic partnership with the Democratic Republic of Congo, planned to run for four seasons, through 2029.
- The deal placed the “DR Congo – Heart of Africa” logo on the back of training kits worn by all of Barcelona’s professional teams, with the shirt arrangement intended to last until the end of the 2028-29 campaign.
- The stated purpose was to promote sport as a vehicle for development, peace and education in Congo and internationally.
- Questions subsequently emerged after the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office opened an inquiry into an alleged financial irregularity connected to the sponsorship contract.
- Two Congolese residents of France had filed a complaint with Spain’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, prompting a request for a criminal investigation by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office.
- The complaint named Congolese sports minister Bambu Ntubuanga, Barcelona and the club officials involved in negotiating the agreement.
Specialist reports had put the potential value of the contract at around €44 million for Barcelona, a significant figure for a club that has continued to search for commercial income beyond Spain.
Branding vanishes without an explanation
Fresh controversy has followed in recent weeks, with journalist Steve Wembi stating that the agreement had created divisions among those involved in its signing. He noted that the “DR Congo – Heart of Africa” slogan had disappeared from a number of Barcelona training and pre-match warm-up garments at the beginning of the new campaign.
For now, there has been no official position from Barcelona on whether the missing sponsor marks reflect a suspension, a redesign of the kit programme or a wider change to the Congo partnership. The logo’s absence nevertheless adds another unresolved chapter to an agreement that was meant to connect Barcelona’s global profile with a development project in Central Africa.
