Sevilla denies political element to shirt message

There is rarely a Sevilla marketing campaign that passes without comment, especially ahead of matches against Real Madrid and Barcelona. Last season, before a King's Cup semifinal against José Mourinho's team, Sevilla's marketing department released a video in which a message, written in Portuguese, flashed across the screen: "Do you want another cup? We're going to leave you without the title."

Without a shirt sponsor this season, Sevilla plans to display "Proud of Andalusia" on its kits when it travels to Camp Nou to play Barcelona on Saturday. "This campaign is nothing more than a continuation of what we have been doing in defense of Andalusia since José María del Nido took over the reins of the club," Sevilla stated. However, the regional premier of Catalonia, Artur Mas, recently made comments about children with Andalusian accents while Catalan nationalist bloc CiU Congressional spokesman Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida has made veiled reference to what Andalusian farmers supposedly do with state subsidies.

According to Sevilla, there is no intention to mix politics and sport with the slogan its players will wear. The club pointed out that nine years ago it bore the regional government of Andalusia's name on its shirts and that in the King's Cup final in 2010 its shirts were adorned with the regional flag.

The club's marketing department had also prepared a video but now doubts whether it will be shown.