Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how Qatar Airways’ sponsorship of FC Barcelona affects Qatar’s sports diplomacy and brand awareness. It focuses on the sponsorship’s demand strategy and takes into account the opinions and attitudes of Spanish nationals toward Qatar and Qatar Airways.

Design/methodology/approach

To assess this, a survey of 434 Spanish nationals from 17 different regions from four zones (North, South, Center, and East) in Spain between November 3, 2022 and November 21, 2022 was conducted using a strata sampling method.

Findings

We argue that Qatar Airways’ sponsorship of FC Barcelona serves to improve Qatar’s recognition and national reputation in Spain. We also found that there is a need for consistent sponsorship and marketing efforts in sports diplomacy to better fulfill public diplomacy aims. Overall, this paper concludes that Qatar Airways’ sponsorship of FC Barcelona positively contributes to the country’s sports diplomacy despite significant challenges.

Originality/value

The major contribution of this study to the literature is the discussion of the role of sports sponsorships in the recognition of the sponsor, which was assessed through conducting a quantitative analysis of public opinion in the sponsored team’s host country.

中文翻译：

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卡塔尔航空与巴塞罗那足球俱乐部的赞助协议：体育外交的催化剂？

 目的

本研究的目的是评估卡塔尔航空对巴塞罗那足球俱乐部的赞助如何影响卡塔尔的体育外交和品牌知名度。它侧重于赞助商的需求策略，并考虑了西班牙国民对卡塔尔和卡塔尔航空的意见和态度。

设计/方法论/途径

为了评估这一点，我们在2022年11月3日至21日期间采用分层抽样方法对西班牙四个地区（北部、南部、中部和东部）17个不同地区的434名西班牙国民进行了调查。

 发现

我们认为卡塔尔航空对巴塞罗那足球俱乐部的赞助有助于提高卡塔尔在西班牙的认知度和国家声誉。我们还发现，体育外交需要持续不断的赞助和营销工作，以更好地实现公共外交目标。总体而言，本文得出的结论是，尽管面临重大挑战，卡塔尔航空对巴塞罗那足球俱乐部的赞助对该国的体育外交做出了积极贡献。

 原创性/价值

本研究对文献的主要贡献是讨论了体育赞助在赞助商认可中的作用，并通过对赞助球队所在国的公众舆论进行定量分析来评估这一作用。