Barcelona president Joan Laporta speaks out on private ownership of the club

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has reiterated that he will not see the club fall into private ownership under his reign. Laporta was appointed in charge for a second time after the dismissal of Josep Bartomeu. 

And since then, he has been able to revive the club by selling off some of Barcelona’s assets for the short-term. A number of key signings have arrived, and even though they are out of the Champions League, they remain at the top of the La Liga table. 

Barcelona president reveals desire to avoid private ownership 

“With the levers we have saved Barcelona from ruin, we are recovering economically and we have been able to construct a competitive team. We no longer have the fears of the beginning of the mandate, when we received such a disastrous legacy. At that time we ruled out the option of liquidating the club, of course, or asking the members for money, because they are not responsible for the disastrous management,” Joan Laporta said. 

“What we decided was to value some assets that the club had and sell them at a very good price, given the circumstances in which we found ourselves. I will never get tired of thanking the members who gave us the authorization to activate these levers that have saved the club. In addition, these assets represent only 5 percent of the club’s annual income, so the income statements for the coming years are not significantly affected. And I want to remind you that this part of the assets that we have sold can be recovered after 25 years.”

“A private company, with me as president, will never happen. My reason for existing as president of Barça is that Barça is never a public limited company, that Barça is always owned by the members of the club.”

“I am a firm defender, as my career attests, that Barcelona always be the property of its members. Some partners that for almost 123 years of history have struggled to maintain this uniqueness despite many vicissitudes. This arrangement connects us to our city, our country, our community and we are not going to change it.”

“My presidency guarantees that Barça will always belong to its members. If someone wants to feed this fear, they are wrong. I am surprised that there are voices that continue to insist that Barça is heading towards a public limited company because it is totally false.”