‘There is an attempt to defeat Barcelona off the field’, Laporta responds to ‘cheating’ allegations
Barcelona have been accused of fraud in registering Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor, La Liga authorities have alleged. In a statement today, La Liga authorities said that Barcelona never had the financial capacity to register these two players. La Liga made this allegation a few days before the Spanish Sports Council (CSD) made a decision on this matter. However, Barca claimed that they were trying to beat them off the field.
Last January, Barcelona said that they had met the financial conditions for registering Olmo and Víctor with the money they received from selling the newly built VIP boxes at the Nou Camp. At the time, it was known that they had sold the boxes for 100 million euros and obtained a new license to buy players. Now La Liga says that Barca entrusted an unknown auditing firm to keep the club’s financial accounts from December 31, 2024 to January 3, 2025. Barca registered Olmo and Victor using the documents of that company. However, La Liga has now said in a statement that Barca was unable to provide any information about the sale of the VIP boxes, saying, “The financial transactions (selling the boxes) that Barca talked about before registering those players are not the final calculation of their profit and loss.”
La Liga, which has also filed a complaint with the Accounting and Auditing Institute of Spain against the unknown financial institution, also said in the statement, “Barcelona does not have the financial capacity to register Dani Olmo and Pau Victor from December 31, 2024 to January 3, 2025, nor after that, nor yet.” Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been furious after such allegations of fraud were raised. Calling the allegations, which came before tonight’s Copa del Rey semi-final against Atletico Madrid, he said in a statement, “I think it is not a coincidence. Today we have a big match against Atletico Madrid. This is another attempt to shake the morale of our team. Sometimes I feel that those who cannot beat us on the field are trying to beat us off the field. As Barca president, I will not allow this to happen. I will continue to fight for the interests of the club.’
Barca temporarily bought Olmo and Victor last year through a financial policy loophole. The injury to defender Andreas Christensen gave Barca that opportunity. ‘There is an attempt to defeat
