The reporter reported coldly January 4, 2025 will become a "scandal remembrance day" for Barcelona clubs. Barcelona president Joan Laporta did everything he could to register the two first-team players, Olmo and Victor, from appealing to the district court to invoking the "injury supplementary registration" clause, to Nike's sponsorship contract and the sale contract of the Camp Nou VIP box, rules, laws and economic measures were put in turn, but in the end, it was impossible to get the two to register. These two did not have the opportunity to play any official matches for Barcelona in the second half of the season.

Victor left it aside, and Olmo's inability to register caused an uproar. After all, the champion No. 10 of the European Championship last summer, who just returned to Barcelona and La Liga from the Bundesliga this year, is the golden period of his career, but he suffered the fate of not being able to register, and no one can help but ask two "why".

This unprecedented registration crisis in the world of football has involved not only Spain's football governing body, but also the country's local courts, sports governing bodies, as well as football's top sponsors and Middle Eastern investment funds. Barcelona, which has always prided itself as "more than a football club", and Laporta, who considers himself shrewd, have been disgraced by this absurd drama-like scandal.

All calculations came to naught

Olmo's registration crisis was already in place when the player signed for Barcelona on August 9 last year. At that time, due to the delay in payment of the company that bought the shares of the Barcelona studio, Barcelona had a deficit of 60 million euros out of thin air and could not complete the registration for Olmo. In the end, Barcelona relied on La Liga's "injury supplementary registration" clause, borrowing defender Andreas Christensen who had been injured for more than 4 months, allowing Olmo to replace the Danish defender registration place. Such provisional registrations only ended on December 31 last year, and Barça had to make up the 60 million euros owed by the deadline to complete the registrations of Olmo and Victor.

Barcelona has encountered player registration crises for many years before, and various means have taken turns to resolve them, but this time Barcelona is obviously too optimistic. At first, Barcelona misread the rules, believing that a new 14-year contract extension with Nike would solve the problem. However, the contract, which is said to be worth 1.7 billion euros, will not come into effect until next season, and the 150 million euros signing fee attached to the contract will be paid in instalments, with less than 11 million euros being included in the revenue of this season's financial year.

Entering the second half of December, Barcelona did not rush to make up the 60 million euros in arrears, but instead relied on the Court of Appeal to obtain provisional registration. The judge, who did not expect to win the provisional registration for Gavi at the beginning of 2023, ruled against Barcelona this time. It wasn't until December 27 last year that Barcelona's appeal was immediately dismissed, leaving only four days left for Barcelona. At this time, Barcelona has only three options: one is to sell the 9,400 VIP boxes at Camp Nou for 200 million euros for the next 20 years, the second is to guarantee it again with personal contributions from the board of directors, and the third is to continue to appeal for provisional registration or postpone the registration deadline.

It's just that the negotiation, signing and payment process of a large contract of hundreds of millions of euros such as selling a box takes a long time, and it cannot be completed within 4 days. The amount of 60 million euros guaranteed by the members of the board of directors is no longer able to afford it. The appeal could not be changed to a decision before the registration deadline of December 31 due to lack of time.

In the end, Barcelona misjudged the situation: the registrations of Olmo and Victor were revoked, and they could not be registered with Barcelona again this season. In order to raise the down payment as soon as possible, Barcelona finally sold the VIP box at the Camp Nou for a low price of 100 million to 120 million euros. Although they submitted proof of a down payment of 28 million euros on January 3, they were unable to complete the registration for Olmo and Victor because they had missed the registration deadline. Olmo's contract clause includes a clause that allows him to return to free status if he cannot be registered, and he can leave Barcelona on a free transfer at any time after January 1.

If Olmo is really free to transfer, Barcelona will have to pay RB Leipzig in full this season for the 48 million euro transfer fee that Barcelona originally introduced, and a total of 48 million euros for Olmo's six-year contract. The economic blow brought to Barcelona by the failure of Olmo's registration, only the transfer fee and annual salary of at least 84 million euros, coupled with the loss of about 100 million euros in the VIP box's rush to cash out at a low price, may reach 200 million euros, which will worsen Barcelona's financial crisis that has just improved.

Shameful scandals, all losers

The reason why the Olmo registration crisis has been called the "scandal of the century" by the Spanish media is that for the first time, a world-class giant such as Barcelona has been deprived of the registration of a major star due to financial fairness. And because Olmo's contract contains a clause that he cannot register and get a free agent, once Olmo chooses to leave the team on a free transfer, Barcelona will have to pay a transfer fee of up to 48 million euros and the same amount of total salary. Given that Olmo has only played for Barcelona for four months, the price is too great.

Compared with the potential loss of hundreds of millions of euros, Barcelona's conceit, inefficiency and misjudgment directly led to the failure of Olmo's registration, and also made Laporta and Barcelona a joke in world football, which had a greater negative impact. Even Gaspart, who is widely regarded as the worst president in Barça's history, has been able to publicly accuse Laporta of humiliating Barça for his incompetence. The opposition within Barça has called for Laporta's resignation, shaking Laporta's position on the Barça board.

Laporta's public optimism in mid-December to his scrambling after the failed appeal highlighted Barça's mishandling of the Olmo registration crisis. Laporta even canceled his planned attendance at the Globe Awards after arriving in Dubai, and began to remotely control Barça's commercial department from his hotel room to urgently promote the sale of VIP boxes at the Camp Nou. In the game with the professional league and the Spanish Football Federation, Laporta's bravado also further weakened his influence.

Especially throughout the crisis, the Barcelona management has always expressed its conviction that Olmo's registration is no problem, and the final failure can be called a historic setback for Laporta. The Olmo registration crisis has allowed Barcelona to sit on the stereotype of a "down-and-out giant", and it will inevitably suffer in attracting top stars in the future. Moreover, the VIP box contract at Camp Nou that was sold in half also seriously reduced Barcelona's commercial value and bargaining power in the commercial field.

The Spanish media also criticized Barcelona for its "historic" low-level mistake in the Olmo registration crisis. La Liga is actively exploring overseas markets and doing its best to catch up with the Premier League. The Olmo crisis not only affects Barcelona's reputation, but also a huge reputational loss for the entire La Liga. In the end, Ormojo was still unable to register, highlighting the economic crisis of Barcelona, one of the two giants of La Liga. If Olmojo finally succeeds in registering through legal means, like Gavi, the credibility of the Spanish professional league will be lost. In short, this time, from the players to Barcelona to La Liga, they are all losers.