Barcelona have been awarded an unexpected sum of almost €2m after a local court ruled in their favour over the illegal sale of merchandise in the area surrounding Camp Nou, as well as in a shop in the coastal town of Lloret de Mar near Girona.
It appears that a third party company had an agreement with Barcelona to sell merchandise. But, after the agreement ended and wasn’t renewed, continued sales became illegal.
Barcelona Mercantile Court number 9 has ordered the club be paid the extremely precise amount of €1,985,722.32. That ruling can still be appealed, which means that payment could take some time.
That amount doesn’t seem like a lot for a club that had turnover of €638m last season. But when Barca had to activate many ‘economic levers’ during the summer, effectively mortgaging the future to survive in the present, just to register new signings and contract renewals, every little helps.
Although improving, the financial difficulties are far from over. Significant concessions still need to be made to make up for serious mismanagement of the former regime.
Ronald Araujo and Gavi have both agreed new contracts within the past nine months. But fresh reports from Spain suggest that neither deal has been officially registered and won’t be until the club can raise more income to increase their spending cap.
Mundo Deportivo has suggested that Barca are continuing to work on attracting new sponsors and are only a few days away from announcing a new regional partner in the shape of Florida-based company Travel and Leisure, which specialises in luxury tourism.
Such sponsorships, MD reports, are ‘decisive’ in being able to register the Araujo and Gavi deals.
Registering deals is absolutely vital. At the absolute worst level of the financial crisis at Camp Nou in 2021, they were forced to released Barca icon Lionel Messi because there was no way that a contract renewal that had already been agreed could meet La Liga’s spending rules.
Planet League’s Rich Holmes & Sustainable Clarets’ Cat Jebson join Shebahn Aherne to have football’s climate conversation ahead of Green Football Weekend.
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