Dani Olmo and Pau Victor will be eligible to play for Barcelona for the rest of the season, after Spanish authorities upheld the club’s appeal to approve their registrations.
On Wednesday, LaLiga lowered Barca’s salary cap and claimed the club’s recently submitted accounts did not match end-of-year figures given by a previous auditor.
In a statement, LaLiga said proceeds from the sale of VIP seats in Barca’s renovated Camp Nou home were not included in the accounts, meaning the club did not comply with financial fair play rules.
As a result, LaLiga said the league leaders could not register Olmo and Victor, who won an appeal to have their registrations temporarily ratified in January.
Ahead of the expiration of that temporary measure, Olmo and Victor were facing the prospect of having to sit out the remainder of the campaign.
But Barca president Joan Laporta pledged to fight LaLiga’s ruling and on Thursday, Spain’s National Sports Council (CSD) upheld an appeal from the club.
The CSD said the two players’ registrations remain valid due to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) acknowledging “there is no federation resolution that agreed to the cancellation of the licences”.
“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,” the CSD said.
“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.”
CSD accepts appeal by Dani Olmo, Pau Víctor and FC Barcelonahttps://t.co/bIsuzbz2s8
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 3, 2025
Both players joined Barca last year and were only registered for the first half of the season, meaning their four-month allowances expired on December 31.
In January, the CSD allowed Barcelona to provisionally register the pair again, after two other courts sided with LaLiga over the issue.
LaLiga said it would appeal the ruling in a statement, which read: “LaLiga, not considering the aforementioned resolution to be in accordance with the law, will appeal it immediately.”
Barcelona have struggled financially for several years, with the inflation of their wage bill leaving them unable to offer a new contract to club legend Lionel Messi in 2021.
The Blaugrana spent an estimated €57.7million on transfer fees last year and €33.4m the previous campaign, having spent €159m in the 2022-23 season.
Barcelona, having won the Supercopa de Espana in January, are still fighting for three further trophies, and they will face Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final later this month.
Olmo is currently out injured, having come off in the first half of a 3-0 win over Osasuna last week. He is expected to miss another two weeks.
