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MADRID: Barcelona said Tuesday it has extended to 2016 its agreement to donate 1.5 million euros a year to joint projects with UNICEF and display the UN children's aid fund's logo on its jerseys.

The existing agreement was set to expire next year but the club's directors approved a two-year extension at a board meeting on Monday, the Spanish league leaders said in a statement. "We are very satisfied with this alliance," the club's secretary, Toni Freixa, said in the statement.

Barcelona and UNICEF joined forces in 2006 and its Argentine star, four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, is one of the organisation's global goodwill ambassadors.

UNICEF's logo used to appear on the front of Barcelona's jersey, making it one of the few clubs not to feature a corporate logo.

But after the Catalan side agreed a sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports Investment worth 30 million euros ($40 million) per season the UNICEF logo was relegated to the back of the jersey and the front now feature the name of airline Qatar Airways.

The joint projects carried out by Barcelona and UNICEF involve the promotion of education and sport among vulnerable children.

During the 2012/13 season the two sides carried out joint projects in Brazil, China, Ghana and South Africa.

Barcelona said the work it has done with UNICEF has helped improve the lives of over 200,000 children.

 

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