The paperwork has been submitted and the signatures have been collected. The five men will be running in the FC Barcelona Presidential Elections on July 18, 2015 will be Bartomeu, Laporta, Benedito, Freixa, and Cuberta.
Bartomeu, Laporta, Benedito, Freixa, and Cuberta are the names we will be hearing about for the next 11 days. Four of the Five worked together once and two former presidents will face one another in this month’s elections. The first debate took place yesterday with all the candidates except Bartomeu, being present to explain their platforms. Here are your candidates:
Joan Laporta
Mr. Laporta is a former president who saw one of the greatest eras in club history in not just football, but other sports as well, will be running again. The attorney and former politician first came on the Blaugrana scene during the 1997 FC Barcelona presidential elections as part of Àngel Fernández’s group and a year later, he was a member of the “Elefant Blau” opposition group of then Barça president Josep Lluis Nunez. Laporta would then be part of Lluis Bassat's team in 2000 where they would lose to Joan Gaspart in the elections. In 2003, Laporta won the Barça presidential elections and would remain as president until 2010, surviving a vote of no confidence in the process. Three of the other candidates running in this election were part of his board After leaving Barça, he entered the political world by becoming a member of the Catalan Parliament as an MP and as an advisor. However he is now gunning for another term as Barça’s president. He does come with some baggage since he is known for being an arrogant blowhard at times at times along with incidents such as the Uzbekistan case, spying over directors case and being sued by the previous board over financial irregularities. However, he was never found guilty of any wrongdoing in the end.
Josep Maria Bartomeu
Mr. Bartomeu is the most recent president of FC Barcelona after stepping down following the conclusion of this season that saw Barça capture the treble. He was selected as the next Barça president by previous president Sandro Rosell when he resigned in 2014. A businessman, he is a member and advisor of two businesses: Adelte Group and Equipo Facility Services. He was a member of Laporta’s regime where he was responsible for the basketball and handball teams from 2003 to 2005 before parting ways after being replaced as director of the basketball team by resigning with Sandro Rosell and Toni Freixa. In 2010, he would return to Barça under Sandro Rosell as sporting vice-president, before taking over as the president of the club in January 2014 after the resignation of Sandro Rosell. He also comes with some baggage such as his handling of the youth players FIFA case that resulted in FIFA Transfer ban and it was under his watch that Barça B suffered relegation while the basketball team has struggled to overthrow Real Madrid as the best in Spain, the failed lawsuit against the previous board over financial irregularities, and being charged, along with Sandro Rosell, with alleged tax fraud regarding the signing of Neymar that could lead to a prison sentence.
Agusti Benedito
Mr. Benedito is a former Barça presidential candidate who is running for the position yet again. Just like Laporta, the businessman first came on the scene during the 1997 presidential campaign of Angel Fernandez and then was part of the founding members of 'Elefant Blau'. After selling part of his business conglomerate, he became a manager and advisor within his family businesses. Just like Bartomeu, he was a member of Laporta’s team during the 2003 elections and was involved with the of the Sports Commission and Social Commission of the club until he resigned in February 2009 following a disagreement with Laporta over the 'Uzbekistan case' which linked then president Laporta with the sale of RCD Mallorca to a Barcelona client. He ran in the 2010 Barça elections and finished second to Sandro Rosell.
Toni Freixa
Mr. Freixa, is former board member of presidents Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell and most recently, Josep Maria Bartomeu and is now running for the first time for the presidency. An attorney and law professor, he has been involved with Barça elections in the past. He volunteered during the campaign of Lluis Bassat during the 2000 elections, which Joan Laporta was a member of that group. Three years later, he was part of Joan Laporta’s board after the latter became president. He was a member of the club’s Disciplinary Commission from 2005 till 2005 before resigning from the board along with Sandro Rosell and Bartomeu. He was part of the Sandro Rosell team for the 2010 Barça elections and was a club secretary and spokesperson until he was stripped of those duties by Bartomeu in February 2014. Even though he did not have a role with the board, he remained a member until this summer.
Seguiment FCB ‘s Joan Batiste Cuberta
Mr. Cuberta is the visible face the Barça fan group, Seguiment FCB, who have promoted various ideas through social network in order to improve the club. Not much is known of Mr. Cuberta however, the group began as a Facebook Group known as 'Monitoring of the requests for Barcelona tickets' because of the problems faced by Barça fans regarding travelling for games. This became a fundamental part of their manifesto and gained them 3000 followers/members. Furthermore, one of the two fundamental points for Seguiment FCB involve having an agency for travelling fans whereby proposing the creation of a travel agents that puts the needs of the fans ahead of economic interests. Another pillar of their campaign is an atmosphere stand to improve the atmosphere at the Camp Nou during matches and also taking this stand to away Barça's games too.
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