FC Barcelona obtained permission on Wednesday to re-register its playmaker Dani Olmo and the young Pau Victor, whose licenses had been canceled by La Liga due to insufficient financial guarantees, following a decision by the Spanish Superior Sports Council .
This provisional measure “suspends the cancellation of the sports licenses of the players mentioned above” and maintains their validity until the outcome of the dispute, indicated the body dependent on the Ministry of Education and Sports in a press release from press.
The two players, part of Barcelona’s squad for the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, will not be included on the scoresheet for the semi-final against Athletic Bilbao (8 p.m.), but could return to the field Sunday if the team qualifies for the final.
Overwhelmed with debt and with a payroll still too high compared to its current resources, FC Barcelona took advantage of the injury of defender Andreas Christensen at the end of August to temporarily register Olmo, acquired for nearly 60 million euros after having shone at Euro 2024, won with Spain, as well as the young Pau Victor.
Read more:
Yamal and Gavi lead FC Barcelona to the Spanish Super Cup final
With their licenses due to expire on January 1 and lacking sufficient financial guarantees, La Liga had removed the two Spaniards from the list of players registered in the Catalan professional group.
-“Expired Licenses”
After losing two legal challenges last week aimed at obtaining new licenses for Olmo and Victor, Barcelona attempted to raise funds and sold the operation of VIP seats at the still-under-construction Camp Nou for an estimated €100. million euros over 20 years to Qatari and Emirati companies.
However, the club failed to meet the deadline set by La Liga, who claim they only received the documents on January 3.
The body then confirmed that FC Barcelona had provided, thanks to this influx of liquidity, sufficient guarantees to comply with financial fair play and operate normally, but that the licenses of Olmo and Victor had actually expired, the regulations current rules preventing players “from obtaining a license in the same club to which they were already linked” during a season.
According to Spanish media reports, FC Barcelona believe that this rule is outdated and that they should be allowed to register the duo now that they have the necessary funds and the transfer market is open.
Thus, both players will be able to play again in the Blaugrana jersey, while the Spanish football authorities are changing their regulations in the face of this unprecedented case.
