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MADRID (AP) The president of Barcelona when Lionel Messi started taking part in in Spain may also be in cost when the membership tries to persuade the star to remain.
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Joan Laporta was elected Barcelona president once more on Sunday, inheriting a membership in disaster and dealing with daunting issues that embody an enormous debt and the doable departure of Messi when his contract finishes on the finish of the season.
“The truth that the very best participant on this planet got here to vote in the present day, alongside along with his son, is proof that Leo loves Barca,” Laporta stated. “Collectively we are going to persuade him to remain.”
Laporta defeated businessman Victor Font and longtime board member Toni Freixa, the opposite two candidates who have been among the many greater than 110,000 members eligible to vote. The election was held simply days after the membership’s final elected president – Josep Maria Bartomeu – spent an evening in jail whereas Catalan police investigated doable irregularities throughout his administration. Bartomeu has denied any wrongdoing.
Laporta gained with 54% of the votes, with Font coming second with almost 30% and Freixa on 8%. Turnout was 55,611.
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The membership posted a video of Laporta celebrating the victory alongside along with his marketing campaign crew, leaping and chanting “Barca, Barca, Barca…”
The election, which was postponed from January due to the coronavirus pandemic, caps every week during which the membership made worldwide headlines after a police raid on the crew’s headquarters led to arrests and additional embarrassment for an establishment that has lengthy prided itself as “greater than a membership.”
The police investigation was associated to the so-called “Barcagate,” which concerned allegations that the previous govt board employed an web companies firm to unfold destructive messages about its personal gamers and opponents on social media to spice up the picture of senior membership officers.
Laporta, who has a five-year time period, was the crew’s president between 2003-2010, throughout Messi’s breakout seasons for the senior crew. The 58-year-old Laporta has stated all alongside throughout his marketing campaign that he was the very best candidate to persuade the playmaker to remain.
He has identified Messi since not lengthy after the Argentina nice joined the Spanish membership after leaving his dwelling nation along with his household. Messi’s skilled debut with Barcelona got here as a 17-year-old in 2004, with Laporta already in cost.
Messi’s future was a key marketing campaign subject as he can go away the membership without spending a dime on the finish of his contract this summer season. He was upset with Bartomeu after the previous president denied his request to go away on the finish of final season.
Initially of his first stint as president, Laporta selected the equally inexperienced Frank Rijkaard as his first coach, and introduced in Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and Deco to crew up with in-house abilities Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernandez. Messi shortly moved up via Barcelona’s youth groups and joined the senior squad in 2004. The crew took off and gained two Spanish league titles and the membership’s second European Cup in 2006.
When that crew started to falter, Laporta made one other daring transfer by changing Rijkaard with the untested Pep Guardiola and promoting Ronaldinho. Guardiola retooled the crew round Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, sparking probably the most wonderful interval within the membership’s historical past.
Laporta tried to unseat Bartomeu in a 2015 election, however Bartomeu gained with the crew coming off a triple sweep of the Champions League, Spanish league and Copa del Rey.
Members, together with Messi and different gamers, voted on the crew’s Camp Nou Stadium and at different polling stations in northeast Catalonia and neighboring Andorra. Voting by mail additionally was allowed in sure circumstances.
The election was referred to as after Bartomeu and his board resigned in October dealing with a doable no-confidence referendum by membership members offended in regards to the crew’s trophy-less 2019-20 season – the primary since 2007-08. The season resulted in a humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich within the Champions League quarterfinals.
The membership has certified for the Copa del Rey ultimate and is second within the Spanish league this season. It gained 2-0 at Osasuna on Saturday. Barcelona misplaced 4-1 to Paris Saint-Germain within the first leg of the spherical of 16 of the Champions League.
The brand new president will face issues that embody the doable departure of Messi on the finish of the season and a debt of greater than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) introduced on largely by the coronavirus pandemic but additionally by one of many highest payrolls in soccer.
Of the three candidates, 52-year-old Freixa was the one one who has assured that coach Ronald Koeman would stay in place to see out his contract via the tip of subsequent season. The 48-year-old Font, in contrast, had promised to convey again midfield nice Xavi in some capability, both as sports activities director or as coach.
Font was the one outsider among the many candidates who had no expertise on the membership’s administration. He had been calling for renewal on the membership.
Freixa was a Barcelona board member from 2010-15. He rejected its portrayal as a membership getting ready to collapse and had stated he might win as an underdog.
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Extra AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
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Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni
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