Barcelona members to elect new president amid membership disaster

Image Source : AP  In this file photograph dated Wednesday March 3, 2021, candidates to the presidency of FC Barcelona, centre row from left, Victor Font, Toni Freixa and Joan Laporta
Just days after their final elected president spent an evening in jail, members of Football Club Barcelona will vote for a brand new one to steer the membership out of its most tumultuous interval in current reminiscence.
Over 110,000 members are eligible to forged ballots on Sunday to select from three males: former president Joan Laporta, businessman Víctor Font, and longtime board member Toni Freixa.
The winner — to be introduced late Sunday evening — will inherit a membership going through daunting issues.
Barcelona’s popularity of being a socially conscientious establishment expressed in its slogan “More than a club” has been tarnished by an odd scandal that has bloomed right into a police investigation into alleged misdoing. The so-called “Barçagate” centered on allegations that the previous govt board had employed an web providers firm to unfold damaging messages about its personal gamers and opponents on social media to spice up the picture of senior membership officers.
Former president Josep Bartomeu denied the accusations. But after a number of months of investigation, Catalan police arrested him and three different membership officers on Monday on suspicions of administrative irregularities.
In addition to restoring the picture of a well-run membership, the brand new president will probably be hampered by a numbing debt of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion). That debt load was precipitated partly by the impression of the coronavirus pandemic that has left Camp Nou void of spectators since March, but additionally due to the very best payroll in soccer.
The 48-year-old Font, as the one outsider of the candidates with no expertise within the membership’s administration, is asking for a renewal of the membership.
“What the (scandal surrounding Bartomeu) shows is that we need to change the way the club is run,” Font stated Friday within the candidates’ remaining debate. “We have (over) a billion euros in debt, Camp Nou is in need of a renovation, and since Monday a club president is in jail. We are sick and tired of it, and it is time to turn the page.”
The way forward for Lionel Messi has additionally weighed closely on the marketing campaign, which has been broadly adopted in Spain. The membership’s all-time main scorer needed to go away final summer time. Messi has since stated he’ll determine his future after the season ends, when his contract expires and he may stroll away free of charge.

Laporta presided over Barcelona between 2003-2010 throughout Messi’s breakout and the beginning of Pep Guardiola’s teaching profession. In addition to his profitable first stint, his prime lure for voters is his declare that he’s the perfect positioned to persuade Messi to remain put.
“For Messi to smile again he must be convinced that the team can be back winning Champions League, La Liga, Copa del Rey, Super Cups and Club World Cups,” the 58-year-old Laporta stated. “I think this will be the key factor for him to decide whether to stay with Barça or leave.”
Based on the member signatures that candidates wanted to get on the poll, Laporta seems to be the favourite. The former president gathered 9,625 signatures, in comparison with 4,432 by Font and a couple of,634 by Freixa.
Freixa was a board member for Barcelona from 2010-15. He rejects the picture of a membership on the border of collapse and says that he can win as an underdog.
Of the three, 52-year-old Freixa is the one just one who assured on Friday that coach Ronald Koeman would full his contract by the top of subsequent season. Font, against this, has promised to deliver again midfield nice Xavi Hernández in some capability, both as sports activities director or as coach.
Koeman, who has guided the crew into the Copa del Rey remaining and saved it within the Spanish league title chase, stated in a press convention earlier than Saturday’s match at Osasuna that he was “tired of answering questions” about his future.
“It is normal that names like Xavi and others come up,” the Dutch coach stated. “That doesn’t bother me. I am focused on my job.”
The election was known as after Bartomeu and his board resigned in October going through a potential no-confidence referendum by membership members offended concerning the crew’s trophy-less 2019-20 season that resulted in a humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich within the Champions League quarterfinals.
Members can vote not solely at Camp Nou stadium, but additionally by mail and at 5 different polling stations in northeast Catalonia and neighboring Andorra which were opened as a result of pandemic.
The winner will get a five-and-a-half-year time period.