Barcelona FC faces backlash over 25-year deal with Israel-linked Babylon Park

Barcelona has faced criticism from supporters after approving a 25-year agreement with entertainment company Babylon Park to establish a family entertainment centre inside the Camp Nou.

Club members approved the agreement ahead of Barcelona's match against Sevilla, granting Babylon Park Spain SL a concession to develop a 900-square-metre interactive entertainment centre at the stadium.

Although the company involved in the deal is registered in Spain, corporate records cited by Spanish media link it to the wider Babylon Park group, owned by Israeli businessman Efi Malka, who lives in Tel Aviv.

The agreement was approved by 252 votes, or 57.15%, compared with 158 votes against and 31 invalid ballots, while 10 members abstained.

The deal had already faced political opposition before the vote. Jaume Asens, a Catalan member of the European Parliament from the Comuns party, wrote to Barcelona president Joan Laporta calling for the agreement to be withdrawn from the general assembly agenda.

Asens called on the club to investigate the company's ownership and investors and determine whether its parent company or other businesses within the group have activities or economic links to Israeli settlements, the occupied Palestinian territories or institutions accused of contributing to the continuation of the occupation.

He proposed that, if the deal was not withdrawn, the vote should be suspended pending an independent assessment of its potential legal, institutional, reputational and human rights implications.

The agreement has since prompted criticism from some Barcelona supporters on social media.

One fan posted on Reddit that they were "so disappointed in the club", writing that the agreement went against what Barcelona and Catalan identity represented and drawing parallels between Palestinian and Catalan struggles.

"Lliure Palestina, lliure Catalunya," the supporter wrote, meaning, "Free Palestine, free Catalonia".

Another Reddit user criticised the commercial considerations behind the agreement, writing: "Disappointing seeing this from a fan-owned club, unfortunately seems like that matters less these days than pure commercial interests pushed by the board."

Barcelona has long promoted the slogan "Més que un club", or "More than a club", reflecting its historic association with Catalan identity and its role beyond football.

The latest agreement has led some supporters to question whether the partnership is compatible with those values, while also drawing attention to the balance between the fan-owned club's identity and the commercial interests pursued by its board.

The controversy comes amid heightened scrutiny of sporting institutions and clubs over their commercial relationships with Israeli companies amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and continued occupation of southern Lebanon and southern Syria.