In the second part of our series ‘Crisis Clubs’, examining the financial states of five European football clubs, Matt Slater digs into the numbers, analyses how and why things are so perilous, and plots a potential way out for Barcelona.
Read part one — Everton, a club of unwelcome Premier League firsts: Record £355m losses, 10-point deduction — and look forward to Inter Milan, Lyon and Hertha Berlin later this week. And there’s even more insight via The Athletic Football Podcast, too.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta used his customary address at the club’s ordinary general assembly last month to announce that the crisis he inherited in 2021 was over.
Record turnover, a huge profit and the “unique achievement” of six Spanish titles for the multi-talented club’s various sports teams — including, most importantly, the men’s and women’s football sides. From bust to back in two years.
“A lot of work has been done to return happiness to Barca fans as we have stabilised the club, which is once again a reference point in the world of sport,” the lawyer-turned-magician proclaimed.
And it is some trick Laporta, 61, has pulled off, up there with making an elephant disappear. From a world-record annual loss for a sports team of £418million ($510m at today’s…
