April 3 – The saga over the registrations of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor and their eligibility to play for Barcelona in the second half of the season has resurfaced, with LaLiga saying that the club don’t have the financial headroom required to meet the squad cost limits under its financial fair play (FFP) regulations.
Spain’s sports ministry (CSD) is expected to rule this week on whether Olmo (pictured) and Victor can play again this season.
The issue is over the legitimacy of a reported €100million sale of VIP seating to Middle Eastern investors at the Spotify Nou Camp Stadium, which is currently being redeveloped. Barca included the sale in their profit and loss statement for the season, which in turn gave them the salary bandwidth to register Olmo and Victor.
The CSD granted temporary registrations allowing the players to return to action in January.
However, LaLiga is questioning the legitimacy of the unnamed auditor who submitted the accounts on January 3, 2025 (LaLiga’s deadline), having only taken over from Grant Thornton as auditor on December 31, 2024.
The unnamed auditor left his role in early January, having provided a certificate that said the club had correctly booked the sale in its accounts.
However, new auditors Crowe Auditores Espana, S.L.P., in the Interim Financial Statements for the first half of the 2024- 2025 season, did not include the sale in their financial review.
LaLiga said the failure to “include the corporate transaction in the Profit and Loss Statement, (is) contrary to what had been certified earlier by the Club and its auditor at the time of the transaction”.
“According to the referenced Interim Financial Statements, and in compliance with the NEP (Budget Preparation Regulations), 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 Victor,” said LaLiga.
LaLiga has subsequently reduced Barca’s squad cost cap by €100million.
Club president Joan Laporta said in response to the league’s statement: “It’s been three months since I already said that the registrations of Olmo and Pau Victor had been (done) correctly.
“We followed each and every one of the requirements demanded by the federation and by LaLiga. That continues to be the case.”
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