Spain’s National Sports Council (CSD) on Thursday upheld an appeal filed by Barcelona players Dani Olmo and Pau Victor which will allow them to play for the club until the end of the season, a decision LaLiga said they would appeal.
LaLiga had lowered Barcelona’s wage cap on Wednesday after it said the club’s recently revised accounts do not match the end-of-year figures from its previous auditor.
The previous accounts included proceeds from the sale of VIP seats in the renovated Camp Nou which allowed Barca to comply with LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play rules and extend the registration of Olmo and Victor.
LaLiga said Barca did not have the capacity to register the two players based on their accounts, but the CSD annulled the agreement between the Spanish top flight and the country’s football federation (RFEF).
The CSD said the two players’ registrations remain valid as the RFEF acknowledged that “there is no federation resolution that agreed to the cancellation of the licences” and their decision not to grant a licence is “null and void”.
“In any case, the professional careers of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor have been protected since January 8 by the urgent precautionary measure granted by the CSD, with the sole aim of avoiding irreparable harm until this procedure is resolved,” it said.
“In short, for reasons of incompetence, for not having followed the appropriate procedures established in the regulations, and for not being the body authorised to make decisions, the agreement of the Monitoring Committee of the RFEF-LaLiga Coordination Agreement must be considered null and void, and all effects derived from it invalidated.”
In January, the CSD had allowed Barcelona to provisionally register the pair, four days after Spanish football authorities rejected their requests.
However, LaLiga said the licences of the two players automatically expired on December 31 and therefore there was no need to cancel the registration.
Olmo and Victor were only registered for the first half of the season and their four-month allowance expired on December 31.
“The competence of the CSD in matters of licences is limited to the review of acts of issuance or refusal of licences, but not to their cancellation or extension,” LaLiga said.
“LaLiga, not considering the aforementioned resolution to be in accordance with the law, will appeal it immediately.”
