The signing of Dani Olmo by Barça has been one of the issues that has had a long tail since the winter transfer window and the final decision is now a reality. This Thursday, the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) upheld the appeal lodged on January 7 by the footballers Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor and by FC Barcelona, that is to say, the government body upheld the appeal lodged by FC Barcelona, allowing both players to keep their licenses valid until June 30, 2025.
The body chaired by José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes has not assessed the economic control exercised by LaLiga, but has considered the agreement of the RFEF-LaLiga Coordination Agreement Monitoring Commission to be null and void because it lacks the competence to deny the prior approval and the federative license of the footballers, as it did at the beginning of January.
“With this resolution, both players’ licenses remain in force. This is because the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has also acknowledged in its arguments that ‘there is no federative resolution that agreed to the cancellation of the licenses’, a circumstance required by the RFEF itself in its resolution of June 30, 2022,” states the CSD ruling.
The same adds that “the professional careers of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor have been protected since January 8th by the urgent precautionary measure granted by the CSD with the sole interest of avoiding irreparable damage until the resolution of this procedure”.
However, there is still a possibility that both Dani and Pau will see their futures in Barcelona compromised for next season. In the case of Dani Olmo, his contract included a clause that allowed him to leave if he was not registered, which could be activated again if the club does not solve its financial problems in time.
For the moment, except as in the case of Dani Olmo due to injury, both players will be able to play in all the matches that Barça have on their calendar between now and June 30th, which includes the Copa del Rey final and a hypothetical Champions League final in case the team qualifies for it.
LaLiga will appeal the resolution of the CSD
LaLiga announced that it will immediately appeal the CSD’s decision as it believes it is unlawful. According to LaLiga, “the refusal of the prior approval for the renewal of licenses or for their new registration is an act that results from the automatic application of the rules for the registration of players” and the agreements of the Monitoring Commission of the RFEF-LALIGA Agreement on January 4, 2025 ” they limited themselves to stating the legal impossibility of processing new licenses, thus ratifying the literal application of the federation regulations”, in the case of both soccer players.
“The licenses of the two players automatically expired on December 31, 2024, at the end of their duration, as agreed between the Players and the Club. Therefore, under no circumstances is a federative act of cancellation of the licenses required,” it said in a statement.
LaLiga also assured that ”the competence of the CSD in matters of licenses is limited to the review of acts of issuance or denial of the same, but not to their cancellation or extension (art. 116.3.a and 117 LD) as happens in the present case.”