Dani Olmo and Pau Victor joined Barcelona last summer, but at the time of their signing, the Blaugrana were unable to register any players, as the Catalans had breached La Liga's annual spending limits.
All clubs in Spain are assigned a certain limit by La Liga. The limit is roughly determined by the difference between a team's revenue minus non-sporting expenses and debt repayments. Barca's revenue for the current season is €426 million but they will still exceed that amount by 31 December 2024.
Teams that violate the cap are allowed to spend a certain percentage of any money they earn — through transfers, salary cuts or new revenue streams — on new players. There's also a rule that allows teams to temporarily use up to 80% of an injured player's salary owed for a replacement.
That's how Olmo and Victor were registered at the end of August. The injury of defender Andreas Christensen created enough space in the club's cap to register the pair but only on a temporary basis until 31.12.2024.
At the time, President Joan Laporta told a press conference that he was not concerned that the registration was temporary. He also expressed confidence that the club would soon be operating within the confines of La Liga. A new deal worth more than €100 million with Nike was a major reason for that optimism. However, according to ESPN, the deal with the American company was not enough for Barca to renew the registration.
Despite this, Barcelona remain optimistic internally. However, the situation has dragged on and Barca appeared to have exhausted all options last month, having lost two court cases over their interpretation of La Liga's FFP rules.
The Blaugrana fought on several fronts, first focusing on domestic workers' rights and then on the right to register players on 80% of injured goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen's salary. However, Wojciech Szczesny was signed to replace Ter Stegen and both judges ruled against Barca on all counts.
Their final option was to sell the VIP Boxes at Camp Nou. The deal was worth around €100m, but finalising the terms, handing over the paperwork to La Liga and providing proof of the funds before the December 31, 2024 deadline proved difficult. As the deadline approached, the league issued a statement saying that Barca had failed to ensure they could comply with the regulations. The next day, Olmo and Victor were not registered.
Barcelona remained confident on Friday (local time) that they could turn things around. Coach Hansi Flick said that neither he nor the affected players were happy about the situation at a press conference ahead of the Copa Del Rey match against Barbastro. However, Flick added that he was confident the club would be able to resolve the issue.
Hours later, Barca received €28m in payments related to the VIP Box deal. They have submitted the necessary paperwork to La Liga and can now operate under the league's 1:1 rule. In simple terms, they are allowed to spend €1 for every €1 they earn.
The problem is that Barca were three days late in the case of Olmo and Victor, so both the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and La Liga rejected their latest attempt.
