Real Madrid President helped keep Barcelona star Dani Olmo registered

Few issues have caused more outrage and fury in Spanish football this season than the registrations of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor. After Barcelona missed the deadline to re-register both players at the end of December, they were unregistered by La Liga and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), theoretically ruling them out of action for the rest of the season.

Barcelona have protested that they had done everything in a timely fashion on their end, and it was only La Liga’s demands for extra guarantees – in this case proof of funds –  that delayed their re-registration, something not in the regulations. As it was Barcelona took the matter to Ministry of Sport, securing a temporary injunction to keep Olmo and Victor registered while their case to do so definitively is resolved.

That case is due to be decided by early April at the latest, at which point Barcelona could lose Olmo and Victor if the case goes against them. La Liga and the RFEF have also challenged the injunction in court. According to Catalunya Radio though, Barcelona had a helping hand in their bid to get that injunction, from none other than Real Madrid President Florentino Perez.

They explain that Perez called the President of the High Court for Sport, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, lobbying them to concede the injunction requested by Barcelona, and that this is a version of events defended by La Liga President Javier Tebas and other executives in the competition. Thet are convinced that Perez’s intervention was crucial in Barcelona being able to continue playing Olmo and Victor.

Iñigo Martínez’s contract extension until 2026 has been approved by La Liga after Barça gained financial flexibility through Vitor Roque’s sale. This means all current players are now fully registered until the end of their contracts, not just for one season. @ffpolo

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 13, 2025

It is also noted that Perez and Barcelona President Joan Laporta are in regular contact, and maintain a cordial relationship. The Real Madrid chief had a hand in Laporta’s return to the Barcelona presidency too, helping him to secure the bank guarantee necessary for his board to be sworn in, back in 2021.

Many clubs expressed their fury at the decision to hand Barcelona the emergency injunction, with some calling La Liga ‘adulterated’. Tebas has also emphasized that Real Madrid were not among them publicly, casting aspersions on their behaviour. This comes in the context of Perez recently declaring at Real Madrid’s General Assembly that Barcelona were a big club like them, and that the two ‘had to help each other’.