Organizers behind the Barcelona World Race sailing competition have decided to suspend the upcoming event over political instability in Catalonia and Spain.

The Barcelona Ocean Sailing Foundation (FNOB) cited problems with sponsorship as a reason behind the postponement of the race, due to kick off on January 12, 2019. “Potential sponsors have expressed their lack of confidence,” FNOB stated. The delay in the approval of a new budget in Spain has also been a key factor in the final decision.

“A sporting event of this scale requires significant private sponsorship, which is its only source of funding. And this last year, the course of events has prevented the FNOB from ensuring a reliable sponsorship process, and therefore guaranteeing the delivery of the best Barcelona World Race to the teams, their sponsors and the public,” the foundation explained via the event’s website.

The political instability in the country “has made it difficult to guarantee delivering the event to the standards a round-the-world race deserves,” it also said.

The FNOB also stressed that this suspension "is not due to the lack of interest of participating teams, nor of interested sponsors, nor of international support, but to the impossibility of specifying the sponsorship within the stipulated periods." In addition, it emphasized that the foundation maintains the will to celebrate the next edition, which will be the fourth, in 2022 to 2023.