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Ernesto Valverde and the Prison of Barcelona’s Past

Albert Gea/Reuters

The summer before last, Barcelona made the sort of business decision that few — if any — outside the relatively niche world of sports merchandising would have noticed.

Since 2001, Barcelona’s merchandising operation had been subcontracted out to Nike, the team’s jersey sponsor. Through a subsidiary company, Nike ran three official Barcelona stores and 15 licensed stores, as well as overseeing some 328 licensed distributors. The branded products they sold included about 7,000 items: apparel and mugs and all manner of sundry tchotchkes.

Nike’s contract expired in the summer of 2018, and rather than renew it, Barcelona formed its own company — the snappily-titled Barcelona Licensing and Merchandising — to pick up the mantle.