Real Madrid have altered the club crest on official merchandise to be sold in the Middle East.

One of the richest sporting franchises sin the world signed with retail distribution company Marka in the United Arab Emirates who have gained the rights to manufacture, distribute and sell Real Madrid merchandise in UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The change sees the Christian cross at the top of the crest being removed. The crest has been redesigned to pacify the predominantly Muslim population in the gulf region.

“We have to be sensitive towards other parts of the gulf that are quite sensitive to products that hold the cross,” Marka’s vice chairman Khaled al-Mheiri, who is also the owner of a Real Madrid cafe in Dubai, told Reuters when asked to explain the doctored crest.

According to Khaled al-Mheiri, the vice-president of Marka, the crest is altered because: “We have to be careful (in the) Gulf regions, where there is sensitivity about products having a cross.”

This isn’t the first time Real Madrid have taken steps to smooth over a commercial deal in the Middle East. In 2014, they signed with National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and similarly removed the cross for their official crest in the UAE.

‘I know that the local people experience every match in a special way and that our links with the UAE are constantly growing stronger,’ club president Florentino Perez said at the announcement two years ago.

According to El Mundo, the deal between Madrid and Marka is worth €50 million (Dh197 million) over five years.