La Liga have announced that Barcelona have not met Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations and have reported concerns about an auditor briefly employed by the Spanish giants.
The controversy centres around the registration of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, two key players whose eligibility for the second half of the season has been called into question.
According to La Liga, Barca hired an unnamed auditor in December last year, who helped the club work around their finances to register Olmo and Victor.
The auditor reportedly confirmed the legitimacy of a €100 million sale of VIP seating to Middle Eastern investors, which Barca included in their profit and loss statement for the season.
That transaction helped Barca to meet La Liga’s financial requirements and obtain approval from Spain’s high sports council (CSD) to register Olmo and Victor in January.
However, the league has now questioned the credibility of Barca’s financial manoeuvre.
La Liga claims Barca have worked with three different auditors in just three months, and all of them have produced conflicting reports on the VIP seating sale.
Before the unnamed auditor arrived in December, auditing firm Grant Thornton was responsible for the club’s financial statements and did not mention the VIP deal.
After the short-term auditor left his role in early January, the firm Crowe took over and also did not include the sale in their limited financial review.
That discrepancy sent alarm bells ringing, and La Liga now argues that as of December 31, 2024, Barca had no available funds or ‘Fair Play’ capacity to register Olmo and Victor.
La Liga has since adjusted the club’s squad cost limit to exclude the €100m from the contentious VIP sale.
They have also informed the CSD of their findings and plan to file a formal complaint against the unnamed auditor with Spain’s Institute of Accounting and Auditing.
Club president Joan Laporta said in response to the league’s statement: “It’s been three months since I already said that the registrations of Olmo and Pau Victor had been (done) correctly.
“We followed each and every one of the requirements demanded by the federation and by La Liga. That continues to be the case.”
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