Why this Sunday will shape Barcelona’s long-term future

Barcelona have a LaLiga match this Sunday evening against Valencia, but it’s a meeting on Sunday afternoon that will have a much more significant impact in the club’s short-term, medium-term and long-term future. The Assemblea de Socis Compromissaris is a type of AGM and will take place ahead of the LaLiga match in the evening.

This is a huge day for Barcelona president Joan Laporta, who is being increasingly criticised by the fanbase. Even though his hands were partly tied this past summer, those who voted him in expected more than what has been achieved. They expected Lionel Messi to stay.

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This Sunday, Laporta has to face some of the most vocal club members and that’s one reason why he felt it so important to agree and announce Pedri’s contract renewal ahead of this weekend.

At this AGM, 4,452 delegates will be in attendance to vote on a variety of matters, with these special members selected randomly on the most part, while some have held important roles at the Camp Nou in the past.

What is being voted on at Barcelona’s AGM?

Among the main issues to be sorted out at this Sunday’s meeting are the approval of the accounts for the 2020/21 season, which have losses of €481m, and the approval of the budget for the 2021/22 season, with sporting salaries set at €378m. That’s the lowest this figure has been for five years.

The next big issue that’ll be discussed at Barcelona’s AGM is the ‘Espai Barça’ stadium redevelopment project. Laporta wants approval to take out a loan of up to €1.5bn from Goldman Sachs, which could be a tough sell given the club’s disastrous financial situation and given that members voted in a referendum on the future of the stadium during the Bartomeu era and gave the green light to a project priced at €600m. Now, Laporta’s plan will cost more than double.

It is likely that the stadium redevelopment plans will be approved, but a heated debate is expected. It has emerged this week that 21 matches were held at the Camp Nou between 2019 and 2020 when there was risk to the public attending the venue. The stadium needs a serious makeover and the members know this. Still, they’ll expect a detailed explanation of where exactly this borrowed money will be going.

Several other issues are on the agenda, but the other point likely to spark debate is a vote on nine statutes that make up the Catalan club’s constitution. One of them is a request to alter the article that states that the board has to resign if Barcelona’s ratio of debts to EBITDA ever reaches more than two. That will be another tough sell for Laporta, but he is the charismatic salesman who is more than capable of pulling this off.

Whatever is passed and whatever is rejected this Sunday afternoon, it will dictate Barcelona’s future. There’s no doubt about that.