FC Barcelona financial crisis

Posted by mdavis on Jul.27, 2010, under The Game

The previous Barcelona board claimed that the club would file a profit. The previous board, led by former Barcelona president Joan Laporta, announced at the end of their mandate in late June that the Catalan side had made a profit of 11 million euros (14.2 million dollars) in the 2009-10 season.

Instead the legendary club posted a loss last season of around 77 million euros, its first deficit in seven years, instead of a profit as claimed by the previous board, the club said on Tuesday.

An external audit carried out by Deloitte for new Barcelona president Sandro Rossel — who took over on July 1 — determined that Barcelona are actually 77.1 million euros in the red.

The new audit puts Barcelona’s total net debt at a record 442 million euros.

“The figures presented by the former board don’t reflect the real image,” said Barcelona’s vice-president for economic affairs Javier Faus.

“There is a structural problem. The sporting excellence in the last few years has not been reflected in economic excellence. The new board’s goal is to bring economic excellence alongside sporting excellence,” he added.

Ah, the holy grail of world club football: matching sporting success with financial success. The two are almost always at odds with each other. If they somehow come up with the cash for Cesc we have to seriously start wondering about financial fair play and evening out the playing field for teams that make financial success a higher priority.