In September this year, Barca reported that their revenue in the 2022/23 season reached 304 million euros. However, according to UEFA’s financial regulations, only the revenue related to football business activities is decisive.
Meanwhile, the huge number of sales that Barca reported comes mainly thanks to the record number of new sponsorship contracts and record revenue from Barca Stores, as well as thanks to the “economic levers” that they have used in recent years. The Catalan giant has accepted to sacrifice many of its assets to help increase revenue.
One of those levers was the sale of 49.9% of the shares of the company Barca Licensing & Merchandising (BLM) and over the past year, this business has “recorded a 54% increase in sales in physical stores”. % compared to last year” according to Barca sources.
Therefore, Barca’s financial balance does not match the actual revenue related to football business activities, and this violates UEFA’s Financial Fair Play law. German newspaper Die Welt highlighted that UEFA members even commented that Barca’s balance sheet was “a disaster”.
Barca’s punishment is that they may be banned from competing in the Champions League for 2 or 3 years. “The larger the deficit, the heavier the penalty,” a source from the European agency told Die Welt.
Previously, Barca was fined 500,000 euros for falsely declaring profits from the transfer of intangible assets in fiscal year 2022. In this season’s Champions League, the La Liga representative passed the group stage, and will meet Napoli in the first round. 1/8.