FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta is liable for a $21.5M (all figures U.S.) “guarantee following the failure of an investor to provide the funds to complete a financial deal that was vital to the club being granted its licence to compete in La Liga this season,” according to Sam Wallace of the London TELEGRAPH. Barcelona have been trying to "sell off assets in order to boost their revenue and thus increase their permitted wage bill under La Liga regulations." As Barcelona has “scrambled to bolster its finances this summer,” with "some of the investors from 12 months previous not having been able to pay, the club repackaged some of those deals and sought new investors.” Barcelona in August announced a deal with soccer finance company Libero to buy a 9.8% stake in club subsidiary Baca Vision for $42.9M to “great fanfare," but that deal now has “looked in doubt.” Barca Vision encompassed a “range of media and digital rights including NFTs carved out of a deal one year earlier with two other investors socios.com and Orpheus Media.” However, Barcelona had “not received the full agreed payments from either of those two entities.” The failure of Libero to pay would “result in Barcelona’s directors, including Laporta, personally having to cover the cost as per an earlier agreement with La Liga.” I t is the “latest calamity” for a club which has around $2.1B of debt, and is embroiled in a refereeing scandal that "could well result in a ban" from UEFA competitions ( London TELEGRAPH, 9/12 ).
