investigation opened into the management of the club’s former management

The Spanish prosecutor’s office said on Friday January 28 that it had opened an investigation into the management of FC Barcelona by the former management led by President Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned in October 2020.

This announcement is the consequence of the complaint filed on Wednesday by the current management of Barça, chaired since last March by Joan Laporta, president of the club, on the basis of a report establishing the state of the club’s finances. The findings will be presented publicly next Tuesday.

When presenting an initial internal audit in October, the Catalan club’s general manager Ferran Reverter claimed that when new management arrived in March, the club was “in a situation of accounting bankruptcy”, with debt and future commitments amounting to 1.35 billion euros, with cash flow problems and a huge wage bill.

The club ended its 2020-2021 season with net losses amounting to 481 million euros. The only clearing in the picture, since the return of Joan Laporta to the post of president which he had already occupied from 2003 to 2010, the wage bill has been reduced to 155 million euros, whereas it amounted to 759 million in March.