Barcelona has at all times been a membership the place soccer and politics collide, however hardly ever have Lionel Messi, Victor Font, and Joan Laporta been pulled so sharply into the identical orbit. Because the presidential race begins to take form, the workforce finds itself navigating a storm wherein nostalgia, energy, and unhealed wounds intertwine. And hovering over all of it is a six-word declare—one Font insists modifications all the pieces—rigorously hid for now, however potent sufficient to reshape the approaching marketing campaign.
The battle for the membership’s future is underway, even earlier than an election date is made official, and the candidates have already chosen their floor: id, governance, and the legacy of the best participant the membership has ever identified.
The upcoming Barcelona presidential election, anticipated to happen towards the tip of the 2025-26 season, has cracked open the emotional fault traces left behind by Messi’s departure. Víctor Font, the challenger who fell quick in 2021, is now positioning himself because the candidate who will restore order, transparency, and crucially, the damaged relationships across the membership.
Chatting with Mundo Deportivo, Font insisted that the Argentine’s hypothetical return would “give me goosebumps,” earlier than pivoting to a direct criticism of the present president. “What we shouldn’t do is attempt to exploit him. I feel Laporta has accomplished it, and he’s accomplished it many occasions, and I feel he’s accomplished it fallacious.”
Barcelona President Joan Laporta and Lionel Messi
For him, the difficulty is just not merely symbolic. It’s structural, it’s strategic, and it’s deeply private for the Blaugrana followers. He argues that “the latest and apparent occasion” of misuse was the 2021 elections, when Laporta campaigned closely on conserving Messi—just for the Argentine to hitch PSG simply months later. “It’s one more instance of a damaged promise,” Font stated.
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The six-word bombshell that modifications the talk
It’s right here, within the coronary heart of his broader critique, that Victor Font delivers the six phrases he believes outline the membership president’s failure—and instantly implicate Actual Madrid’s strongest determine. Font claims that in 2021, amid negotiations over La Liga’s monetary guidelines, the CVC funding, and the European Tremendous League (ESL), Laporta confronted a decisive alternative. And, in accordance with Font, Laporta selected the fallacious aspect.
“He selected Florentino Perez over Leo”, Font accused Laporta. He insists that the membership’s failure to retain Messi was not inevitable, not imposed, not unavoidable. Citing the later activation of monetary levers, he argues the membership did have the means—and misplaced its means attributable to political alignment fairly than monetary disaster. “Barca had the potential to retain Messi in 2021,” he revealed, “however we acquired to June promising that he could be renewed… after which it didn’t occur.” That is greater than a criticism. It’s an accusation of betrayal.
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