Japanese eCommerce giants Rakuten have become Barcelona's new sponsor on an initial four-year deal which is believed to be worth in the region of £189m.

Rakuten, who were founded in 1997 and expanded outside of Japan in 2005, will replace Qatar Airways as the main sponsor of Barcelona from the start of the 2017-18 campaign.

"As FC Barcelona's main global partner, Rakuten is set to power our global brand strategy and, as FCB's first-ever Global Innovation and Entertainment Partner, we are looking to bring the collective power of our brands like Viber, Wuaki, Ebates, Kobo, and PriceMinister to build an innovation framework that will deliver innovative solutions and services to fans, members and players," read a statement from CEO of Rakuten Hiroshi Mikitani.

The contract is for an initial four years, but it is understood that Rakuten have the chance to extend the deal for another 12 months.

The agreement also dwarfs the £129m agreement that was in place with Qatar Airways, who replaced global children's charity UNICEF on the front of Barcelona's shirts in 2011.