The reason why Barcelona's president and members of the board have just resigned

Martin Macdonald

• 10 Feb 2026 05:15 CST
• 4 min read

Nieuws

On Monday, Barcelona announced that president Joan Laporta and several members of the board had resigned from their positions within the club.

Those not familiar with the politics of Spanish football club management may have seen that news story and reacted with surprise.

Actually, it's a fairly common practice within the game in Spain.

The reason Laporta and his colleagues have resigned is so that they can run again in the upcoming Barcelona presidential election, which takes place on 15 March.

"In accordance with Article 42.f of the FC Barcalona Statutes, president Joan Laporta has stepped down from his position in order to be eligible to stand in the elections to the Board of Directors, which will be held on 15 March," a statement on the club website confirmed.

"This resignation was formalised at the ordinary meeting of the Board of Directors held this Monday, at which the election call was officially published.

"Alongside Laporta, several members of the current board have also relinquished their posts to take part in the electoral process. Specifically, resignations were presented by the vice-president for the Institutional Area, Elena Fort; the vice-president for the Social Area, Rafael Escudero; and board members Ferran Oliver, Josep Maria Albert, Xavier Barbany, Miquel Camps, Aureli Mas, Xavier Puig, and Joan Soler i Ferré.

"Now that these resignations have been formalised, the Board of Directors will continue to carry out its duties until the end of the current term, scheduled for 30 June, under a new configuration. Until then, the club’s highest governing body will be made up of Rafael Yuste as president, Josep Cubells as vice-president and secretary, Alfons Castro as treasurer, and board members Josep Ignasi Macià, Àngel Riudalbas, Joan Solé i Sust and Sisco Pujol."

Barcelona's presidential election called early

Laporta has been criticised for calling the club presidential election early in 2026.

The former lawyer is the current president of the Catalan giants and has held the post since 2021, with elections coming every five years unless called early. He was previously president between 2003 and 2010, having won elections in 2003 and 2006.

Usually, elections at Spanish clubs come at the end of the season when the dust has settled from the previous campaign.

Laporta is up against fellow candidates Marc Ciria, Xavier Vilajoana, Victor Font and Joan Camprubi.

His rivals believe that he has called the election early because Barcelona are performing well on the pitch at the moment, top of La Liga and qualification secured for the knockout stage of the Champions League, while they recently defeated rivals Real Madrid to win the Spanish Supercup.

Ciria told SPORT: "We had already planned that Laporta was going to take advantage of any opportunistic moment to call the elections. We understand that the statutes provided for it, but the normal thing was to do it with the season over and with the different teams fighting for the titles not seen in this noise."

Font added: "It is obvious that these elections are called when it suits Laporta. He doesn’t care about holding elections in the middle of a Champions League tie. But we were already expecting it, we are not surprised. We are prepared. These are very important elections for the future of Barca. The time begins to return Barca to the members.

"Of course, if March 15 finally coincides with a match against Sevilla, we demand that on that day the match be exclusively for members and that tickets are at the minimum cost. Participation must be encouraged and those who do not have season tickets cannot be discriminated against."

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