Barcelona and Joan Laporta have found themselves in another mess. As if they didn’t have enough on their plate with the Camp Nou and the return to the Barça stadium, now they will have to refund all the money paid by fans who decided to pay to see the team’s Asian tour this preseason. The Catalan club had opted to offer the three matches they would play outside Europe on a subscription basis, but, allegedly, during the first match against Vissel Kobe, they suffered a massive attack and experienced serious problems that forced them to offer the rest of the match against the Japanese team on free-to-air television.
The Blaugrana club had opted for its own platform, Barça One, to offer the three preseason matches of the Asian tour, one in Japan and two in South Korea. The other option to follow the matches of Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, and company was their official YouTube channel. However, it should be noted that both were pay-per-view services, with the first costing around $40 and the second $10 to watch all three matches featuring Hansi Flick‘s side.
The rest of Barcelona’s preseason
It was during the match against Vissel Kobe that fans were unable to access the Barça One platform to watch the first friendly of the Asian tour they had paid for. The club blamed these incidents on a massive attack and made a Solomonic decision at the time to offer the match in Japan for free via its YouTube channel. This began to cause some discomfort among those who had paid for a subscription to either platform, as those who had paid saw that everyone else could watch the match for free.
That is why the Barcelona has informed all subscribers that it will offer the matches against Seoul and Daegu for free on its YouTube channel. The club said it did not want to “take any more risks” and would therefore broadcast the two matches in South Korea free of charge. “We apologize to all our members and fans around the world for a service that has not been provided to the standards required by the club,” the official statement continued.
Refunds
“The club wants to ensure that these problems do not happen again and will shortly proceed to compensate affected fans who were unable to watch the match,” Barcelona announced in the statement. The club has therefore begun the process of refunding all fans who paid to see the Asian tour that has caused so many problems for Barcelona supporters. It should be remembered that a payment problem with the supplier for the match in Japan meant that the team almost missed their flight.
Now, fans are entitled to claim back the money they paid to see Barcelona’s three friendly matches on their Asian tour. Those affected will have to contact the club via the two platforms, depending on which one they signed up for, and use the help panel to contact them directly and claim the amount they paid, explaining what happened with this failed business venture, which has turned out very badly for Joan Laporta, who was hoping to have some extra income for the Blaugrana club’s budget.