Barcelona's Financial Woes and the Uncertainty Surrounding Olmo and Víctor's Registrations                 

On Friday, Barcelona's offices were filled with applause as the club received an initial €28 million from the €100 million sale of VIP boxes at Spotify Camp Nou. Although the stadium is still undergoing renovation and will only partially reopen later this year, the club had hoped that this money would allow them to register new signing Dani Olmo and young forward Pau Víctor with LaLiga for the remainder of the season.

A source confirmed to ESPN that the funds should have helped Barcelona comply with LaLiga’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations. However, the timing of the payment proved to be a problem as it arrived too late to meet the registration deadline.

This development marks another chapter in a long-standing issue that may prevent both Olmo, a €60 million signing from RB Leipzig last summer, and Víctor, a €3 million acquisition from Girona, from playing for Barcelona this season. LaLiga unregistered the two players on Wednesday after the club missed a key deadline of December 31 to show compliance with FFP rules. On January 4, LaLiga and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) issued a joint statement rejecting Barcelona’s subsequent request to re-register them.

As Barcelona president Joan Laporta and his closest advisors celebrated the influx of funds, some sources within the club expressed surprise at their optimism, as the deadline had clearly passed.

Barcelona has been at risk of failing to register players for several years due to financial instability. When Laporta took over in 2021, the club was burdened with €1.2 billion in debt, a legacy from his predecessor, Josep Maria Bartomeu. Since then, following Lionel Messi’s departure that summer due to the inability to register his new contract, the club has used a variety of strategies—or "levers"—to stay within LaLiga’s FFP framework. These include wage reductions, asset sales, bank guarantees from directors, and legal battles.

While Barcelona has historically managed to resolve such issues at the last minute, this time, the outcome is far from certain. Another court case now looms.

Why Olmo and Víctor’s Registrations Failed

Olmo and Víctor joined Barcelona last summer, but the club was not in a position to register either player when they were signed due to a breach of LaLiga’s spending cap.

LaLiga sets a personalized spending limit for each club based on their revenue, minus non-sporting expenses and debt repayments. Barcelona’s spending cap for the current season was €426 million, but by December 31, they had exceeded that threshold.

There are ways to navigate these restrictions. Clubs that exceed their spending cap can reinvest a percentage of savings from transfers, wage cuts, or new income streams into new signings. Additionally, clubs can temporarily use up to 80% of the salary of injured players to register new players.

This allowed Barcelona to register Olmo (who missed the first two LaLiga matches of the season due to registration delays) and Víctor in late August. An injury to defender Andreas Christensen created temporary space within the club's salary cap, allowing the registrations to go through until December 31, 2024.

At the time, Laporta expressed confidence that new revenue, including a €100 million-plus deal with Nike approved in December, would ensure compliance with LaLiga’s financial rules. However, sources later indicated that the Nike deal did not generate enough revenue to extend the registrations beyond the deadline.

Despite this, Barcelona continued to maintain an optimistic outlook. However, as the situation dragged on in December, the club lost two court cases against LaLiga’s FFP regulations. They had argued that workers’ rights and the use of 80% of injured goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen’s salary could be used to register players. But the courts sided with LaLiga, dismissing the club’s appeals.

The final hope was a sale of VIP boxes at Camp Nou, which was expected to generate €100 million. However, the deal’s paperwork was delayed, and the club was unable to provide proof of funds before the December 31 deadline. LaLiga then stated that Barcelona had failed to provide the necessary guarantees, leading to Olmo and Víctor’s deregistration the following day.

On Friday, the club received €28 million from the VIP box sale and submitted the necessary documents to LaLiga, allowing them to comply with LaLiga’s 1:1 spending rule. However, the submission came three days too late, and both LaLiga and the RFEF rejected Barcelona’s latest request to re-register Olmo and Víctor.

Barcelona’s Financial Maneuvers Over the Years

This situation has been brewing for some time. Messi’s shock departure in 2021, shortly after Laporta’s return to office, occurred because Barcelona could not afford to register his new contract under LaLiga’s rules. That same summer, the club negotiated wage reductions with Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets, allowing them to register Memphis Depay, Eric García, and later Sergio Agüero.

More salary reductions were necessary in January 2022 when Barcelona spent €55 million to sign Ferran Torres from Manchester City. To register Torres, defender Samuel Umtiti had to restructure his contract, extending the period over which the club would pay him.

The summer of 2022 saw even more creative financial maneuvers. Barcelona sold 25% of their LaLiga television rights to global investment firm Sixth Street for 25 years, generating €207.5 million for the first 10% and €320 million for the remaining 15%.

The club continued selling assets, including 49% of Barça Studios to Socios.com and Orpheus Media for €200 million. These deals, along with the revenue from the television rights sales, allowed the club to register high-profile signings such as Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, whose combined cost exceeded €100 million, as well as free agents Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessié. However, this wasn’t enough to register defender Jules Koundé, who was signed for over €50 million from Sevilla. Koundé was eventually registered after Barcelona directors provided a bank guarantee against future earnings.

In 2023, the club obtained a court order to transfer academy star Gavi’s registration from the youth team to the first team. Later, they resold shares in Barça Studios—now known as Barça Vision—to Libero, which purchased a 29.5% stake for €120 million. While this deal allowed the registration of Ilkay Gündogan, Iñigo Martínez, and Oriol Romeu, the funds from Libero never materialized, raising further concerns for LaLiga about Barcelona’s financial situation.

To register loan signings João Félix (from Atlético Madrid) and João Cancelo (from Manchester City), another bank guarantee was needed. Additionally, long-term injuries to players like Gavi, Ronald Araújo, Christensen, and Ter Stegen have been used to temporarily register new players. These strategies show just how close Barcelona has been to failing to register key players for years.

What’s Next for Olmo and Víctor?

For now, Barcelona remains confident that the situation will be resolved. A source close to the club told ESPN that Laporta will not speak publicly until Olmo and Víctor are re-registered.

If the registrations don’t happen? "That scenario is not being considered," the source said.

With the €28 million now in their account, Barcelona argued that unforeseen delays prevented them from meeting the December 31 deadline and submitted a new request to re-register both players. However, RFEF rules state that players cannot be re-registered with the same club twice in a single season. A source within the RFEF also told ESPN that “no license can be processed without LaLiga’s prior approval.” A Barcelona insider revealed that the club is challenging this interpretation of the rule.

After their latest rejection, Barcelona plans to take the matter to court.

Meanwhile, Olmo and Víctor could be sidelined for at least six months. One option is for the players to remain at Barcelona, continuing to train but not being eligible for selection.

Olmo’s contract includes a clause that would allow him to leave for free if he remains unregistered. However, sources close to the player have stated that he does not intend to activate this clause. His agent, Andy Bara, reiterated this position on Friday, emphasizing that Olmo is focused on his future at Barcelona, the club he left at 16 to join Dinamo Zagreb.

That said, this position may need to be reconsidered. Without a license from the RFEF after his registration was canceled, even a short-term move for Olmo would be difficult. A loan would be impossible as it requires an active license with the parent club. Therefore, a more complex arrangement would need to be made, potentially terminating Olmo’s contract and allowing him to join another club for six months before returning to Barcelona in the summer to re-sign.

Víctor’s case would be similar, with clubs like Real Betis, Espanyol, and several Segunda Division teams expressing interest in being informed if a short-term move becomes possible.

In a bizarre twist, if neither registration is processed, Barcelona could find themselves in a situation this month where they cannot re-register Olmo or Víctor but are still allowed to sign new players from other clubs.