Why does Barcelona’s shirt have an owl on it? Drake’s Spotify success to be celebrated in El Clasico

Barcelona are set to celebrate US rapper Drake this weekend as they sport a special shirt in his honour for the El Clasico. The Spanish giants will wear Drake’s brand logo, an owl, on their shirt as they take on Real Madrid in a top of the table clash.

The 35-year-old is known for his love for football and is thought to be a Chelsea fan after being spotted with the players ahead of a Champions League semi-final match in 2012. It comes as no surprise to see him involved in a collaboration with a football club.

Drake’s owl will replace the Spotify logo in the middle of Barcelona’s shirt at the Santiago Bernabeau. This comes after the audio streaming platform became Barca’s main partner ahead of the current campaign, with the stadium also being renamed Spotify Camp Nou.

Here is everything you need to know about Drake’s Barcelona shirt...

Why is Drake’s logo on Barcelona’s shirt this weekend?

Barcelona will sport Drake’s owl logo - which bears a striking resemblance to the Sheffield Wednesday emblem - this weekend as a celebration of the American becoming the first artist to surpass 50 billion streams on Spotify. It is part of Barcelona and Spotify’s strategic aim to ‘bring football and music together’.

Drake confirmed the news on Friday, posting an image of himself with the shirt on Instagram with a caption reading: “To celebrate being the first artist with 50 bilion streams on Spotify, Barcelona will wear the OVO owl at El Clasico on Sunday. This doesn’t feel real but it is.”

On the new shirt, Barcelona’s marketing vice-president Juli Guiu said: “Our alliance with Spotify goes beyond a mere commercial relationship. It is a strategic relationship through which we seek to bring together two worlds that can arouse emotion - namely music and football.

“This initiative is another example of this desire and the innovative spirit of our collaboration. For the first time in our history, we are replacing the name of our main sponsor on the front of the jersey with an internationally acclaimed artist, Drake. This initiative shows our potential to become a unique platform to offer experiences that help bring us closer to our fans while reaching out to new audiences around the world.”

Spotify’s vice-president of partnerships, Marc Hazan, said: “We were really excited to celebrate one of the biggest games of the year and mark Drake’s milestone as the first artist to reach 50 billion streams.

“We’ve always said that we want this partnership to be a celebration of fans, players and artists on a global stage - and there’s no bigger stage than El Clasico.”

What is the OVO owl?

OVO stands for ‘October’s Very Own’ and is the name of Drake’s clothing line. The logo features an owl with the eyes supposed to like like “O”s sandwiching the “V” as the beak. The name refers to Drake’s birth month - born on 24th October 1986. It has also been suggested that the owl may represent Drake’s previous comments that at night he ‘comes to life’, while the bird also represents wisdom.

When is Real Madrid vs Barcelona?

Barcelona will wear the shirt this Sunday as they travel to Madrid for their La Liga clash. The two teams are scheduled to kick off at 3:15pm (BST).

Fans in the UK can watch the match via Premier Sports 1 which you can access via NOW TV.