Side B of the inscriptions of Joan Garcia and Rashford

BarcelonaLast week, Barça's board of directors approved a €7 million guarantee at an extraordinary meeting. The reason? To correct a deviation in the salary budget for all non-players and first-team coaches. The purpose? Help unlock the registrations of Joan Garcia and Marcus Rashford in time for the first league match in Mallorca. Although it has been known for some time that the calculation of the fair play The financial side also takes into account the salary expenses of the coaching staff of the men's first team; of players and coaches of the women's team, of youth football and of the rest of the sports, the Barça entity has decided to cry out against a regulation that it considers "coercive" because it conditions the registration of footballers of the men's first team, the economic and social engine of a multi-sport entity.

The person in charge of offering explanations has been the head of professional sports at Barça, Xavier O'Callaghan, who has not specified the origin of the 7 million excess that, even outside the 1:1 rule, reduces the first team's registration capacity. The former handball player has exempted both women's football and basketball from the 98 million spent on an initial forecast of 91, but he did not want to point out any item above the others. Off the record, however, Barça sources acknowledge that the deviation comes from the non-registrable salary mass of the first team, that is, of members of thestaff, the sporting management, and the professional structure surrounding Hansi Flick, Lamine Yamal, and company. The national teams and the women's team have met their budget, something that goes against what was leaked last week from within the institution. Although it hasn't been publicly admitted, the excess largely corresponds to the bonuses distributed among the coaching staff for winning three titles last season.

"In the 2024-25 season, La Liga gave us a salary bill for the entire club, the football team on one side and the rest on the other, but there have been variations in the rest. The board endorses that amount to protect the first team's registrations. If it wasn't endorsed, La Liga would withdraw our registration capacity," declared the Barcelona executive, who also VIP of the future Camp Nou, key for Barça to stop slipping with the fair play, is a source of discussion between the club and La Liga regarding its interpretation. With the stadium still under construction and €42 million outstanding as part of this transaction, neither the auditor nor the management can give the green light to the shortest route to returning to the coveted 1:1 rule (registering for the same amount as the amount released).

Barça women's team, in a key season

From O'Callaghan's explanations it is clear that the club's priority is the first football team and that while the regulations of the fair play Don't leave out the sections; they will have to tighten their belts. The maximum will therefore be maintained in this season's salary budget. Basketball will remain at 28.75 million euros, almost three less than last season. It will be the only section to suffer a real cut, but it's also true that the improvements in women's football, handball, and futsal don't match the upward trend of their competitors. In the women's division, which has lost strength this summer and must negotiate renewals for key players like Alexia Putellas, the salary budget rises to 13.75 million, one more than last year. However, this effort seems insufficient to defend a legacy that the Premier League and Olympique Lyonnais want to challenge with a checkbook.

"In no section will we be the biggest spenders, but with our style of play and our policy, we aspire to be competitive." This was O'Callaghan's message of caution, who put the non-registerable salary budget at 95 million for this year. The focus will have to be on the 32 million, of that 95 million, which is planned to be largely allocated to the non-registerable coaching staff of the first team, which is where the diversion has occurred in the last year. On the other hand, both the women's team and the sections confirm once again that their future, at least in the short term, will be conditioned by the chances of success of Flick's squad. They are the poor relation of a club incapable of turning its financial situation around more than five years after the collapse associated with the Covid pandemic.