La Liga Slashes Barcelona’s Salary Cap Over Irregularities

FC Barcelona have been in financial turmoil since quite some time and the situation worsened under former President Josep Bartomeu in La Liga. Barcelona did win numerous trophies under Josep Bartomeu however his financial errors namely spending huge amounts of money on players which did not yield results created a lot of debt. This debt went unnoticed up until Joan Laporta took over as the new president of Barcelona.

The debts incurred by the club during Bartomeu’s presidential tenure are still haunting the club till this day to such an extent that financial levers have to be introduced just to accomodate one or two players.

Up until now FC Barcelona maneuvered their way through each financial obstacle to sign new players as per La Liga’s financial fair play rules. However, a new issue has arisen specifically regarding the financial levers introduced earlier by Barcelona to register Dani Olmo and Pau Victor.

The financial lever was introduced because La Liga rejected Barcelona’s request to register the duo after which the Spanish National Sports Council intervened and gave Barca a precautionary measure which allowed them to register to duo. This was a bit controversial and many clubs made statements about this and La Liga president Javier Tebas also complained about this decision.

The club introduced a financial lever via selling VIP boxes in their new stadium for a reported 100 million pounds which is completely under La Liga’s FFP. However, La Liga retaliated stating that the suggested 100 million pound sales from the VIP seats have not been included in Barca’s recent audited accounts. Hence, this implies that the club once again has no room to register Pau Victor and Dani Olmo.

The Spanish National Council are set to make a final decision before April 7th on whether Dani Olmo’s and Pau Victor’s registrations should be revoked for the season or not. This comes at a poor timing for Barcelona since they are set to face Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-finals on 2nd April and have key fixtures in the domestic league and the UCL next.

Official Statement From La Liga On FC Barcelona

“No amount from the (VIP box deal) is recorded in the profit and loss accounts, contrary to what had been certified by the club and the auditor at the time of the transaction,”

“Barcelona did not have the financial fair play capacity since December 31st, 2024, for registration of the players named Dani Olmo and Pau Victor.”

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