A new setback has been dealt to Barcelona in advance of their Copa del Rey match against Atletico Madrid. This comes as a result of La Liga’s decision to nullify the club’s financial fair play manoeuvre, which had allowed for the registration of two players.
In January, after several months of uncertainty, Barcelona was granted provisional permission to register summer signings Dani Olmo and Pau Victor by the Spanish national sports council (CSD). This decision was met with controversy.
Due to the fact that the Catalan club was unable to find a way to comply with the wage cap restrictions imposed by La Liga, both players were initially only registered for the first half of the 2024/25 season.
On the other hand, after La Liga turned down Barcelona’s request to register the pair, the CSD intervened and decided to grant Barcelona a precautionary measure that would allow the pair to play in the short term. This decision caused a great deal of concern among many people.
The president of La Liga, Javier Tebas, voiced his displeasure with the decision made by CSD, while a number of clubs issued statements regarding their disagreement with the decision.
It was reported that the club had sold VIP boxes for their new stadium, which is still under construction, for a reported sum of one hundred million euros in order to be able to operate within the provisions of the financial fair play scheme that La Liga follows.
Now, however, La Liga asserts that the proposed sum of €100 million from the sale of VIP seats has not been incorporated into Barcelona’s most recent audited financial statements. This implies that the club is once again unable to accommodate the signing of Olmo and Víctor.
On Wednesday, a statement issued by La Liga provided the following information: “The financial statements demonstrate that Barcelona did not possess the capability to register Olmo and Víctor on December 31, 2024, nor on January 3, 2025, nor since that date.”
Pau Victor has been included in Hansi Flick’s squad for their competition against Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday. Olmo, however, will not be participating in the match due to an injury.
Explanation of the Dani Olmo saga
Olmo, who was acquired by Barcelona from RB Leipzig of the Bundesliga for a fee of £51 million in the summer of 2017, was only registered as a special exemption for the first half of the season because the club was unable to meet the wage cap restrictions that are currently in place in La Liga.
They were unsuccessful in their attempt to re-register Olmo, and La Liga and the Spanish Federation reached a consensus regarding the matter. However, the club was able to win permission for the attacking midfielder to play after the CSD intervened in response to an appeal made by the club.
For Barcelona, the team that is currently in first place in the league, the 26-year-old has participated in 28 matches across all competitions.
Where do we go from here?
As reported by ESPN, the Central Sports Department (CSD) is planning to make a definitive decision on the matter of whether Olmo and Víctor’s registrations should be revoked for the remainder of the season not later than April 7.
How does this affect the competition for the title?
Although the Catalan club is currently three points ahead of Real Madrid in the race for the La Liga title, this distraction is certainly not something that the club would want to deal with. Just as was mentioned earlier, there is currently no information regarding whether or not the two will be permitted to continue playing during this season.
The complete statement made by La Liga
“In light of the numerous reports that have been published concerning the corporate transaction that is associated with VIP Boxes, which FC Barcelona communicated to La Liga at the end of December of last year, and given the institution’s responsibility in applying the rules of financial fair play as well as the documents and transactions that give rise to it, La Liga wishes to clarify the following:
According to what has been made public, LALIGA finished receiving the documentation that corresponds to this corporate transaction on January 3, 2025. This was done in accordance with the Budget Preparation Standard (NEP).
A certificate that was issued by the club’s new auditor, who was appointed on December 31, 2024, was included in this documentation. This certificate acknowledged that the transaction was accurately recorded as income in the club’s Profit and Loss account for the current season, as certified by the Club to LALIGA. It was necessary and essential to have this documentation in order to validate the accounting that was mentioned earlier; without these certificates, it would not have been possible, as was established by the NEP that was mentioned earlier.
Because of all of these factors, LALIGA decided to raise the Club’s Squad Cost Limit (SCCL) by the amount of the transaction that was mentioned earlier on January 3, 2025. This decision made it possible for FC Barcelona to register players with LALIGA, provided that the federation regulations allowed for such a move.
2. On February 14, in view of the information that LALIGA had been able to gather in relation to said operation, and in accordance with article 64.4 of the Sports Law, it considered it essential and urgent to request the Higher Sports Council (CSD) to carry out a specific control report by the auditors that said autonomous body designated, attaching to said request all the information collected by LALIGA.
3. On March 17, 2025, LALIGA reaffirmed its request to the CSD to prepare the specific control report that was mentioned earlier. This was done in light of the fact that the request was urgent and the CSD had not yet provided a response to the request. When LALIGA received a communication from the CSD on March 26, it stated that the preparation of this particular control report was an optional action for the CSD. The communication did not elaborate further, and it was understood that the CSD was refusing to prepare the specific control report.
4. Subsequently, FC Barcelona has delivered, within the period established in the LALIGA regulations, the Interim Financial Statements referring to the first half of the current 2024-2025 season, accompanied by a limited review report signed by Crowe Auditores España, SLP, a different auditor from the one that issued the certificate indicated in point 1 of this note regarding the aforementioned corporate transaction.
As a result, FC Barcelona has recommended that LALIGA hire a maximum of three auditors within the past three months. These auditors include Grant Thornton, SLP, who will remain in their position until December 31, 2024; a different auditor who was appointed on December 31, and maintained their position until January 3, 2024; and Crowe Auditores España, SLP, who will be the third auditor.
5. In the aforementioned Interim Financial Statements, the Profit and Loss account does not contain any amount of the aforementioned corporate operation. This is in contrast to what had been certified by the Club and the auditor at the time of the execution of the aforementioned operation, as was explained in point 1 of this Note.
6. According to the aforementioned Interim Financial Statements and in accordance with the National Employment Policy, FC Barcelona, with the subscription of said corporate operation, did not have a balance or registration capacity for the registration of the players Dani Olmo and Pau Victor on December 31, 2024, nor on January 3, 2025, nor has it had since that date, nor does it have a balance or registration capacity today. This is what is commonly referred to as “Fair Play.”
7. In accordance with the Interim Financial Statements that were submitted, LALIGA has informed the Club that it has reduced its LCPD by the amount of the corporate operation that was mentioned in the application of the NEP.
8. In a similar manner, on March 27, LALIGA communicated to the CSD the conclusions regarding ‘Fair Play’ that were derived from the Interim Financial Statements. In particular, the reduction in LCPD that was communicated to the Club as a consequence of the same, as well as all of the previous circumstances, were included in the communication that was sent to the CSD. The Interim Financial Statements of the Club were also included in the communication.
9. In light of the circumstances that have been described above, LALIGA wishes to inform you that it will be reporting to the Accounting and Auditing Institute (ICAC) the auditor that was appointed by the Club on December 31, 2024. This auditor was the one who certified the accounting of the corporate transaction that was mentioned earlier in the Profit and Loss account as being accurate.
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