La Liga lowered Barca's salary limit again
On September 14, La Liga Organizing Committee imposed a salary limit of 287 million USD on Barca, a sharp decrease from 690 million USD last season. Camp Nou's owner falls to third in terms of salary cap, behind Real Madrid with 773 million USD and Atletico Madrid with 315 million USD. The remaining two positions in the Top 5 belong to Sevilla with 179 million USD and Villarreal with 152 million USD.
According to Goal, the Organizing Committee determines the salary limit for each club based on revenue, non-sports expenses and debt. The reduction in Barca's salary cap partly comes from the diminishing impact of Palancas deals - selling assets to improve short-term financial situation. In 2022, Barca sold its subsidiary Barca Studios (now Barca Vision), but did not receive payment. After reselling this summer, they have not been paid. At the end of the recent transfer window, President Joan Laporta and the Club Board of Directors had to use an emergency guarantee of 21 million USD to register new players.
Financial difficulties also hinder Barca in the player buying and selling market. During the last summer transfer window, the defending La Liga champions could only spend $3.8 million to buy midfielder Oriol Romeu. The remaining four recruits all came for free. Among them, Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez are on free transfers, while Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix are on loan contracts.
To reduce the salary budget, Barca had to release Sergio Busquets, Jordo Alba, Samuel Umtiti, sell Ousmane Dembele, Franck Kessie, Abde Ezzalzouli, Nico Gonzalez, Alex Collado, loan Ansu Fati, Clement Lenglet, Eric Garcia, Sergino Dest, Pablo Torre and Julian Araujo.
Barca has reduced its annual sports expenses from 596 million USD to 426 million USD, but it is still over the limit. This means they may be banned from buying new players in the January transfer window, while also having to consider spending on the B team, women's team and basketball team. Next season, Laporta and his colleagues may have to continue to reduce salaries, or find other sources to raise funds, if they want to continue with the current group of players.
Barca fell into financial crisis under former president Josep Bartomeu. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann and sky-high salaries, Barca's expenses and debt skyrocketed. The situation became more unstable when the team played ineffectively and entered the Covid-19 era.
Last season, Barca won La Liga for the first time since 2019. HLC Xavi's team finished the tournament with 88 points, 10 points more than second-place Real. They also won the Spanish Super Cup when they beat Real Madrid 3-1 in the final. This season, after the first four rounds of La Liga, Barca is ranked third with 10 points, two points behind Real.
