Joan Laporta has secured another five-year term as FC Barcelona president, winning a members’ vote that cements his control of the club at a pivotal moment for its finances, stadium rebuild and sporting project.
Shortly after midnight in Barcelona, the club announced Laporta’s victory. With the count complete, Barcelona said Laporta received 68% of ballots cast. His only challenger, Víctor Font, conceded earlier in the evening, congratulating Laporta for what he called an “unquestionable victory.”
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More than 48,000 of Barça’s roughly 114,000 eligible members voted on Sunday at Camp Nou and at four additional polling stations across Catalonia and Andorra, underscoring the club’s unique model of supporter ownership and its intensely political internal culture.
“Thanks to this marvelous club, where its fans still vote to decide who will be their president and executive board,” Laporta said in his victory speech at Camp Nou, flanked by members of his incoming board.
Laporta’s return to power in 2021 arrived with Barcelona in financial freefall after the lavish outlays of predecessor Josep Bartomeu and the pandemic’s revenue shock. He responded with drastic measures: greenlighting Lionel Messi’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain, trimming a bloated wage bill and selling long-term assets, most notably 25% of Barcelona’s Spanish league television rights for the next 25 years.
The club’s debt load has nonetheless climbed on his watch, rising from €1.3 billion to more than €2 billion ($2.3 billion). Font’s campaign cast Laporta as an irresponsible steward mortgaging the future. Laporta countered that he saved Barcelona from collapse, tightened operating costs, boosted income, and now needs a second term to finish stabilizing the club.
One major driver of the debt, Laporta’s camp emphasized, is the long-delayed renovation of Camp Nou, Europe’s largest soccer stadium. The rebuild is entering its final stretch and is expected to lift matchday and commercial revenues once completed in the coming months. The club has been playing away from the stadium during construction.
On the pitch, momentum favored the incumbent. Barcelona have surged under coach Hansi Flick, and 16-year-old Lamine Yamal has emerged as a genuine phenomenon, offering a new face to a youth-centric revival rooted in La Masia. The election coincided with a rousing 5-2 win over Sevilla that kept Barcelona atop La Liga, a result that fed the narrative of a project back on track.
Barcelona’s elections often resemble regional political campaigns, with broadcast debates, policy platforms and a passionate base parsing spending plans and sporting philosophies. On Sunday, the atmosphere at Camp Nou mixed civic ritual and club ritual: ballots cast by Flick and players from the men’s and women’s first teams, and members greeting candidates like politicians on a get-out-the-vote drive.
Laporta, 63, is both a known quantity and a symbol for supporters who associate him with the club’s golden era. During his first presidency (2003–10), Barcelona won under Frank Rijkaard and then reached transcendent heights with Pep Guardiola and a young Messi, who headlined a generation that set standards for positional play, academy integration and silverware accumulation.
The stakes of this second act are different. Barcelona are still operating under financial strain and have mortgaged future revenues to stay competitive now. The squad remains dependent on the output of its academy and opportunistic recruiting, while UEFA and La Liga’s financial controls continue to limit maneuverability. At the same time, a polished Camp Nou promises a revenue engine the club has lacked since the pandemic.
Laporta’s renewed mandate delivers precious continuity as the board seeks to align balance-sheet reality with sporting ambition. For Flick, that stability should aid medium-term planning around player development and wage management; for the fan base, it brings a clearer line of accountability in a project that blends austerity with audacity.
Key numbers from the vote and Laporta’s tenure so far:
- Term: Five years
- Vote share: 68%
- Turnout: More than 48,000 ballots from about 114,000 eligible members
- Debt trajectory: From €1.3 billion to over €2 billion
- Asset sale: 25% of La Liga TV rights for 25 years
- Matchday backdrop: 5-2 win over Sevilla to stay top of La Liga
Barcelona’s model, where members elect the president and board, magnifies scrutiny of each decision. The next five years will test whether Laporta’s high-wire blend of cost control, commercial expansion and legacy-building can convert a debt-laden rebuild into a sustainable, winning cycle — and whether the renovated Camp Nou can power the transformation he has promised.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
