Barcelona respond after serious Joan Laporta accusations

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 23 Feb 2026 06:35 CST
• 6 min read

Nieuws

Barcelona have released a statement firmly denying claims made against president Joan Laporta just a matter of weeks before the Camp Nou side’s elections.

A report published in El Periodico claimed that Laporta has been subject to a complaint filed in the duty court of the Central Court of Instance of the National Court in Madrid late on Friday night.

The allegations, which were made by a Barcelona fan, surround a number of deals made by Barcelona in recent seasons, including the club’s Nike sponsorship agreement and the renovation of Camp Nou.

The Catalan club have moved to dismiss these claims out of hand via an official statement that claims the information was “false or highly manipulated”.

Barcelona respond to ‘completely false’ claims

In a 577-word statement, Barcelona dismantle the claims made against Laporta and several other high-ranking members of the club.

The club claims that it was approached by journalists in January to verify a potential corruption story, but after making their own internal and external checks, this was rejected as “completely false”. It states that the documents the report was based upon were “presumably, false or highly manipulated”.

Despite Barcelona’s assertion that the information was wrong, the story was ultimately published.

The Catalan club is now threatening legal action against El Periodico as it published the report “knowing irrefutably that the claim is based on false information and without taking into account the Club's version of events which was duly received”.

Barcelona also point out that this information has come to light at a particularly sensitive time due to the ongoing election process.

What is Laporta accused of?

It is claimed that Laporta, as well as other high-ranking officials at Barcelona, have been collecting “undue commissions” via a network of companies based in Spain, Cyprus, Dubai, Croatia and Estonia.

The complaint claims that the funds collected were laundered through “apparently legitimate businesses”. It has provided 38 documents that are said to back up this assertion.

One of the transactions that has been flagged is a €28 million transfer by the New Era Visionary Group from an account in Dubai to Barcelona in January.

It is claimed in the complaint that the company New Era Visionary Group “did not arise spontaneously as an external investor, but was promoted by Laporta himself for key operations”.

It adds: “The multi-jurisdictional structure (United Arab Emirates, Estonia and Spain) and the use of Cypriot holdings reveal a deliberate intention to hide real ownership and money flows.”

What will happen now?

In the next days, the National Court will decide whether this is a complaint that is worth following.

If this is the case, Laporta and Barcelona will be subject to an official investigation.

On the other hand, if the Court believes there is insufficient evidence to merit this, the case will simply be rejected.

Laporta, who is not under formal investigation, remains favourite to win the Barcelona presidential election.

Full Barcelona statement

'In relation to a news piece that has appeared in the media today, FC BARCELONA announce:

1. On 15 January 2026, certain journalists from two media outlets and an organisation named ORGANIZED CRIME & CORRUPTION REPORTING PROJECT (OCCRP) made contact with the Club to verify information and supposed documents that would justify or form the bases of the facts that appear in the news item today.

2. In line with the internal processes followed by the Club, the information passed on was analysed in preliminary fashion with the aim of evaluating its credibility, consistency and authenticity, carrying out the relevant internal and external checks. As a result of this process, the information was revealed to be untrue and far from the truth, and was based on, presumably, false or highly manipulated documents, therefore the Club, on 19 January, replied to the organisation and the journalists involved informing them expressly that the information that they wished to verify was in fact completely false and that documents upon which it was based (without having seen them), without doubt, also must be false and/or manipulated.

3. As such, the Club thanked the journalists involved for having requested confirmation of the information, and at the same time, requesting them, knowing the circumstances, to abstain from publishing the story as it was clearly false.

4. According to the Club's knowledge, this false information has been offered a variety of national media outlets. None of them has published the story as it the evidence clearly indicates its false nature.

5. The Club is unaware of the details of the claim presented which is referenced in the story in question, although the details published coincide with the information that the Club refuted expressly on 19 January 2026.

6. On confirmation of the identity of the facts, the Club:

- Immediately begin the requisite legal action against the members in question for the presentation of a false report, false documentation, libel and any other matter that may come to light in the report.

- Urge the Club's Disciplinary Committee to open a case against those members in question requesting that it adopts the most severe disciplinary measures available against them, regardless of whether the report is admitted or not.

- Will study the requisite action to be taken against the media outlet that has published the story knowing irrefutably that the claim is based on false information and without taking into account the Club's version of events which was duly received.

- Act firmly and forcefully against media and/or individuals who take as given information that subsequently turns out to be false.

7. The Club requests that, as always, but especially during the electoral process, media verify with the Club information that may negatively affect the Club's image and those of the precandidates before publication, as well as publishing information they know to be based on falsehoods.

Furthermore, the Club will make available to the Electoral Committee all the information in its possession on this matter for them to verify the situation and warn precandidate of the consequences of using false information and news stories during the electoral process.

FC Barcelona regrets that this matter has come to light during the middle of the electoral process and that is a response to an unfounded attempt alter the democratic process, one of the key fundamental values of the Club, with the aim of influencing and manipulating the sovereignty of the FC Barcelona members.'

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