The Spanish Higher Sports Council has issued a decision favorable to the Catalan club and its two players.
FC Barcelona was authorized on Wednesday to replay its playmaker Dani Olmo and the young Pau Victor, whose licenses had been canceled by La Liga for lack of sufficient financial guarantees, by a decision of the Spanish Higher Sports Council.
This provisional measuresuspends the cancellation of the sports licenses of the aforementioned players» and also maintains its validity until the outcome of the dispute, writes the body dependent on the Ministry of Education and Sports in a press release. The two players, who are part of the Barcelona group to compete in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, could therefore return to the field this Wednesday evening in the semi-final against Athletic Bilbao (8:00 p.m.).
Riddled with debt, and with a payroll still too large for its current means, FC Barcelona took advantage of the injury of its defender Andreas Christensen at the end of August to temporarily register Olmo, recruited for nearly 60 million euros after having shone at Euro-2024 won with Spain, as well as the young Pau Victor. Their licenses expiring on January 1, and without sufficient financial guarantees, La Liga removed the two Spaniards from the list of players registered in the Catalan professional group.
An unprecedented case
After losing two legal challenges aimed at obtaining new licenses for Olmo and Victor last week, Barça therefore tried to find funds and sold the operation of VIP seats at the Camp Nou, still under construction, for an estimated amount to 100 million euros over 20 years, to Qatari and Emirati companies. The club, however, did not meet the deadline set by La Liga, which claims to have only received the documents on January 3.
-The body then confirmed that FC Barcelona had provided, thanks to this new inflow of money, enough guarantees to respect financial fair play and be able to operate normally, but that the licenses of Olmo and Victor had indeed expired, the current regulations preventing players “to obtain a license in the same club to which they were already linked» over the course of a season.
According to Spanish media, FC Barcelona believe that this rule is outdated and that they should be allowed to register the duo since they now have the necessary funds and the transfer window is open. The two players will therefore be able to play again in the Blaugrana jersey, while the Spanish football authorities change their regulations in the face of this unprecedented case.
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