Barça faces off with auditor over €100 million

Barcelona"We are not the police or the Treasury, so if clubs present transactions signed by an auditor, we cannot say no," said La Liga on December 30. "I won't worry, everything will be done in accordance with the statutes," they pointed out the same day from the Camp Nou offices. These responses are part of the latest Barça move under Joan Laporta to resolve issues related to the fair play financial and player registration. The provisional licenses of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor expired at the turn of the year, and financial solutions had to be found to consolidate the registration of both players in La Liga. Despite knowing for months that the renewal agreement with Nike It would not work to fix that problem, Laporta's board waited until the last second to work on an alternative: selling rights to seats VIP of the new Camp Nou to two Arab companies in exchange for 100 million euros.

Everything was so tight that the paperwork and payment guarantees required by La Liga weren't completed until January 3, when Olmo and Víctor's licenses had already expired. Barça needed three days' notice to have 58 of the 100 million in cash (30+28) and a favorable audit report allocating these 100 million as extraordinary income in the current fiscal year. The move allowed the club to return to the 1/1 salary cap rule and guarantee registrations, but as the documents arrived late, only one precautionary measure granted by the Higher Sports Council (CSD) restored the players' licenses. Now, with the measure about to expire (it does so on April 7), Laporta needs the club's new auditor, Crowe, validate an operation that aroused the League's suspicions when it saw that 28 of the 58 million credited came from a company, owned by the Moldovan Ruslan Birladeanu, with a share capital of only 3,000 euros.

At the beginning of January, Barça received approval for the seats. VIP from a transition auditor whose name is being withheld. It was not Grant Thornton, with whom the club had already clashed over deep discrepancies in the accounting treatment of the Barça Vision black hole, nor Crowe, who expresses doubts about the structure of the operation. Sources close to Laporta's board of directors point out to ARA that the third company auditing Barça's accounts since the 2021 elections is not currently in favor of recognizing the 100 million euros presented to La Liga as suddenly computable income in this 2024-25 financial year. The auditors note that the seats sold to Forta Advisors and New Era Visionary Group for up to 30 years are not yet a real asset of the club because the Camp Nou is still immersed in a profound remodeling process, as demonstrated by the fact that will not reopen until next season due to an obvious delay in the works.

100 million, 58 million or an unwanted proration

Crowe's endorsement of the seat sale VIP It is imperative before March 31st, which is the deadline for La Liga clubs to present their financial statements by December 31st. The club is confident that it will reach an agreement with the auditor to accept its accounting criteria, which is none other than to calculate the 100 million euros at once this year even though only 58 million have entered the coffers and even though they correspond to an asset that cannot be exploited until the Camp Nou reopens its doors. If Crowe's doubts do not disappear, the calculation of the fair play The financial impact could be affected, and the club could return to the salary overhang of the last two summers. The impact will be less severe if the auditors only validate the 58 million received. However, it will have more severe effects if Barça is forced to prorate its money over the years of the agreement that is being finalized. announced on January 16.

After returning to 1/1 by virtue of the sale of seats VIP After La Liga accepted the contract, Barça has renewed the contracts of Ronald Araujo, Pedri, and Gavi. It has also automatically extended the contract of Iñigo Martínez. However, the CSD will decide whether Crowe fully or partially validates the seat transaction. VIP, which the club rushed through to avoid losing their contract. Three months after the blood sausages in Jidah, Laporta still has homework to do and questions to answer.