Barcelona will be able to play Dani Olmo and Pau Victor in the second half of the 2024-25 season — for now at least.
The Spanish government has suspended the agreement reached on January 4 by the RFEF (Spanish FA) and La Liga, which had cancelled the two players’ sporting licenses after Barcelona missed the December 31 deadline to extend them.
Barcelona’s attempts to re-register Olmo and Victor were rejected by the RFEF and La Liga, leading the club to submit a 52-page document and more than 60 accompanying documents to the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), the highest sports council within the Spanish government.
The decision from CSD is an acknowledgement that Barcelona have grounds to dispute the decision taken by La Liga and RFEF, and has been made because the club are at risk of losing two important assets before a definitive ruling is made.
Until then — and it is not known how long that will take — Olmo and Victor will be available for Barcelona, meaning they can feature in La Liga and the early rounds of the Champions League knockout stages.
Neither have been named in Hansi Flick’s squad for Wednesday evening’s Supercopa de Espana semi-final against Athletic Club, though both players are in Saudi Arabia and could be available if Barcelona reach Sunday’s final, where they would face either Real Madrid or Mallorca.
Barcelona, La Liga and RFEF have been approached for comment.
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Explaining their decision, the CSD cites Spain’s Article 27 of the Law on Sport which states that professional athletes have the right “to a sporting career in accordance with their potential.”
The CSD believed that not lifting the de-registrations would “cause serious economic and sporting damage to the club and, above all, to the players”, while also arguing that the de-registrations could “harm the interests” of the Spanish national team and La Liga.
Typically, La Liga grants licenses to players for the duration of their contracts but Olmo and Victor were given only temporary permits for registration until the end of December due to Barcelona being above their salary limit. This was to allow the club time to prove fresh revenue streams.
They were only allowed that half-season measure for Olmo because of long-term injuries suffered by other Barcelona players. If a club lose a player to injury for at least four months, La Liga rules allow them to allocate 80 per cent of that player’s salary in the club’s allowance to register another player.
Barcelona have taken steps to address their financial situation in the months since. In November they announced a new sponsorship deal with Nike and then on January 3, La Liga confirmed Barca had received the money from the sale of the VIP seating at the revamped Camp Nou.
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They had tried to do this before the December 31 registration deadline but La Liga said they had not received a payment proof of the transaction before the end of the year, and considered their deadline expired. This time La Liga checked all the documents and approved that Barcelona are no longer under severe registration limitations.
It’s been a turbulent and uncertain few weeks for the players after the club lost two court appeals at the end of December, and La Liga then removed them from Barcelona’s registered squad at the turn of the year.
RFEF and La Liga issued a final statement on January 4 confirming they had both rejected Barcelona’s appeal to re-register both players, which explains why Barcelona took their case to the Spanish government.
Olmo had a clause inserted into his contract that would allow him to leave on a free transfer if Barcelona had been unable to register him, but both he and Victor have remained committed to staying at the club while they have attempted to resolve the situation.
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(Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
