Spanish government provisionally allows Dani Olmo to continue playing for Barcelona
Barcelona's Dani Olmo, left, duels for the ball with Atletico Madrid's Koke during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. Credit: AP/Joan Monfort
MADRID — Spain’s government stepped in Wednesday to provisionally allow midfielder Dani Olmo and forward Pau Víctor to continue playing for Barcelona following the Spanish league’s refusal to do so.
Barcelona appealed the decision by the league to Spain’s Higher Council for Sport, a government body under the auspices of the ministry of education and sports. The council has initially ruled in Barcelona’s favor to allow the two players to continue participating in official competitions while it studies the appeal and makes a definitive ruling.
Last summer, the two players were registered only through the end of 2024, and the financially troubled Barcelona failed to meet the league’s financial fair-play rules by the end-of-year deadline.
Once the club got its paperwork in order, the league, with the backing of the Spanish soccer federation, said that it was rejecting Barcelona's attempt to register the players for the rest of the season. The league and the federation said in a joint statement that even though Barcelona eventually was able to meet the salary-cap rules, the players can’t be registered again after already having been dropped because of the missed deadline.
Barcelona argued that the deadline for registering new players should be at the end of January, when the transfer windows closes, and not the end of December as the league requires.
Barcelona was able to finally increase its salary cap after reportedly receiving a payment last week of 100 million euros ($103 million) for VIP seats at the renovated Camp Nou stadium.
Each La Liga club has a salary cap that is calculated based on factors including revenues, costs and debts. It is proportional to roughly 70% of a club’s revenues.
Barcelona has endured difficulties registering players recently because of its financial struggles. It has resorted to selling off assets in recent seasons, including the sale of future television rights. The club’s financial struggles led to the departure of Lionel Messi in 2021.
Olmo was the club's top signing of the offseason after he helped Spain win the European championship.
If Barcelona eventually loses its case with the Higher Council of Sports, it could turn to ordinary courts.
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