Wearing Barca shirt with Qatar Airways in UAE could put you into prison

Wearing a Barcelona shirt in the United Arab Emirates with Qatar Airways advertising could land you in prison for 15 years.

Arab superpowers including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have cut relations with Qatar over claims they support extremism.

They accuse the State of supporting armed militant groups as well as their regional rival, Iran – claims which Qatar say are baseless.

Saudi Arabia and several other Arab states have suspended flights to and from Qatar, affecting the nation’s airline.

Qatar Airways sponsored Barcelona’s shirt from 2013, while two years before that from 2011 it was the Qatar Foundation on the jerseys.

Last year Barcelona announced a new four-year sponsorship deal with Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten from the start of next season.

But according to reports in Argentine paper Ole Internacional, if you are spotted wearing an old Qatar Barcelona shirt in the UAE, you will be slapped with a £110,000 fine or 15 years in jail.

That would be extremely harsh punishment for many people completely besotted with Barcelona, a huge club in the Middle East.