More than 3,300 Barça members demand the repeal of Laporta's initiative.

BarcelonaFor the second time in Barça's history, the club's members are close to adding an item to the meeting's agenda. Businessman Víctor Font did so in 2019. with the initiative of electronic voting and the financier Marc Ciria He may have succeeded in requesting the revocation of the permit that the assembly granted in 2022 to Joan Laporta's board to sell up to 49.9% of BLM (Barcelona Licensing & Merchandising), Barça's merchandising division, valued at around €600 million. According to the bylaws, Ciria needed the support of at least 3% of members with the right to passive suffrage. This meant around 3,300 signatures. Finally, he collected 3,316 notarized signatures after almost a month of collecting them, as he himself explained this Tuesday at the Can Déu Civic Center in the Les Corts neighborhood of Barcelona.

"We don't know if we've made the cut because the club hasn't updated its passive census [of members who don't have the necessary seniority or who are sanctioned]. Right now, we don't know if we've made it or not," Ciria complained during the press conference, held after his team submitted the signatures on time. He says that the club's representatives have treated them "wonderfully." "There are 3,316 people concerned about the club's future, 3,316 voices that simply want to go to the meeting, raise their hands, and say that maybe it's time to sell more assets," the financier remarked. "Out of responsibility, the club should include the item on the agenda. It will be a long afternoon at the club. They haven't given us a specific timeframe to give us an answer," he added. One discrepancy that may exist between Ciria's team and Barça is the validity of digital signatures.

Thus, provided that the club validates these signatures, at this Sunday's assembly, which will be held online, the ninth point on the agenda will be for the delegate members to decide whether or not to deny Laporta the permission he has had since 2022 to sell up to 49 Barça. "Laporta's board has sold assets worth 850 million euros andhas accumulated losses of 230 million during this term, and the bylaws establish joint liability for board members if the term ends with losses. Laporta's option to avoid this is BLM, and we are aware of proposals on the table. Ciria said in a recent interview in ARAOfficial Barça sources, for their part, deny that the club currently has any intention of selling BLM.

Problems for Johan Cruyff

Ciria's team, which is on the list of potential candidates for the Barça presidential elections scheduled to take place next spring, has been collecting signatures over the past month at matches for the men's first team (both at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys and the Estadi Johan Cruyff), the women's first team, and the youth team. "Members of the club's security forces invited us to leave Johan Cruyff while we were collecting signatures despite having all the permits and contracts for the people who were with us. But that's part of a management model in which the assembly is held online and members are increasingly excluded from the club's social life," Ciria also explained in the interview.

Barça recently reported that BLM generated €158 million in the 2024-2025 financial year, a record for the club. This is €51 million more than the previous year. The club expects this figure to rise again in its current fiscal year budget.