LaLiga has decided to do away with Barcelona’s Financial Fair Play operation, which had previously permitted Dani Olmo and Pau Victor to register with the club.
In January, Barcelona made headlines when they found themselves in a desperate situation to re-register the two summer arrivals for the second half of the season. This was on top of the fact that the club has been experiencing financial difficulties.
In the beginning, the Spanish giants were only able to register the two players for the first half of the 2024/25 season due to the regulations that govern LaLiga.
In January, their request to have both players participate for the remainder of the season was denied because they were unable to meet the wage cap regulations that were in place within the league.
After much deliberation, Barcelona was ultimately successful in reaching a provisional agreement with the Spanish national sports council (CSD) regarding their inclusion.
After the club announced that they would be receiving a cash injection of one hundred million euros through the sale of VIP seats at their Camp Nou stadium, which is currently undergoing a project of redevelopment, Olmo and Victor were allowed to register.
The credibility of this, however, has been called into question as a result of the Spanish league’s decision to question the deal.
The club’s most recent audited accounts for the 2024/25 season were submitted last week, and a statement that was just recently published by LaLiga revealed that the agreement was not included in those accounts.
As a result, the registration of Olmo and Victor is in jeopardy because Barcelona has once again exceeded the regulations that govern the French Football League.
The communication included the following: “According to the referenced Interim Financial Statements, and in compliance with the NEP, FC Barcelona did not, as of December 31, 2024, or January 3, 2025, nor does it currently, have any positive balance or registration capacity, publicly known as ‘Fair Play’, to register the players Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.”
On top of that, the league disclosed that they had informed the Catalan organisation that they had reduced their annual spending limit as a consequence of the situation.
The LaLiga league reported that this figure had increased to more than 463 million euros in the month of February.
The statement also confirmed that the Spanish top-flight would be reporting the unnamed auditor that was used to verify the sale of seats at Camp Nou to the Institute of Accounting and Auditing of Accounts (ICAC) in Spain.
There is a possibility that a decision regarding the legality of Olmo and Victor’s emergency registration will be made before April 7th.
The pair are available for selection until that time comes, but it is not yet clear whether their licenses to play will be revoked for the remainder of the season. Until then, those licenses are available for selection.
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