Football club Real Madrid will remove a cross from its crest on all clothing sold in most Muslim countries, it has emerged.
The Spanish team currently has a small cross on top of the crown on its logo.
An announcement by Marka, a retailing group in the United Arab Emirates, said the Christian cross would be removed on products sold in most Middle East nations.
The company has won the rights to manufacture, distribute and sell Real Madrid products in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
Marka Vice Chairman Khaled al-Mheiri is quoted by Reuters as saying the club already has two logos and the business had opted to use the one without Christian imagery.
"We have to be sensitive towards other parts of the Gulf that are quite sensitive to products that hold the cross," he told the news agency.
The club previously removed the cross when it was sponsored the National Bank of Abu Dhabi in 2014.
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Article by Antony Bushfield
Antony Bushfield is a multimedia journalist for Premier.
