The financial situation at Barcelona in recent years has not been the best, but it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Complying with the 1:1 rule seems increasingly closer, and all that remains is to free up space in the wage bill in order to register new signings. Returning to normality means being able to operate normally in the transfer market, which is great news for the Catalan club, whose last time operating under this rule was in the summer of 2019.
What is the 1:1 rule?
The 1:1 rule stems from the financial control that LaLiga applies to its clubs to ensure the financial sustainability of the championship. What this rule says is that a club can only spend what it has, i.e., if a team has managed to earn or free up €10 million from its wage bill, it can spend that same amount during the transfer window to sign or register new players. When a team exceeds its squad cost limit, it breaks the rule and LaLiga can impose even stricter restrictions: the 1:2 rule or even the 1:4 rule, where for every dollar saved, only half a dollar or a quarter can be spent, respectively.
Barça returns to 1:1
According to Sport, Javier Tebas has informed Joan Laporta that his team will be subject to the 1:1 rule, meaning they will be able to operate normally in the summer transfer market.
“The figures for the season that ended this week have already been presented to LaLiga, and Tebas considers that Barça has done its homework and everything that was asked of the club to return to normality,” the newspaper said.
Initially, Barcelona was counting on the sale of VIP seats to generate income of $100 million, but the auditor said that as they had not yet been built, they could not be counted in the current financial year. However, the club pressed the construction company to have them ready before June 30, and this has been the case, so they will be included in this financial year. Now LaLiga will have to officially confirm that Barcelona has returned to the 1:1 rule, which, although it will not prevent the club from having to continue selling players to free up salary space, gives it greater peace of mind when it comes to the transfer market.
With Joan García signed and Nico Williams on his way, the return to this rule will facilitate their registration, but it will also allow other signings to be made, such as the addition of a full-back or a striker to be Lewandowski’s heir as early as this summer.
Tebas denied it a few days ago
Sport broke the news that the club would be entering this rule, but the truth is that just a few days ago, LaLiga president Javier Tebas said that the team was not in compliance. “I’m not saying it, the president of FC Barcelona said it, they are not in the 1:1 rule. I hope they are as soon as possible, as I hope all clubs are. But as I always say, FC Barcelona knows what it has to do to be in the 1:1 rule because the regulations are well known,” he said, but a few days have passed and it seems that the documentation has been submitted and everything is in order to return to 1:1.