Laporta wins 5 more years as president of Barcelona

Joan Laporta gestures as he celebrates after being elected president of FC Barcelona following the soccer club's presidential election in Barcelona, Spain. (AP )

BARCELONA, Spain, March 16 (AP): Joan Laporta was reelected as the president of FC Barcelona for another five years after winning a leadership vote among members of the Spanish soccer powerhouse.

Shortly after midnight in Barcelona, the club announced Laporta had won.

His only rival, Víctor Font, had earlier conceded defeat and congratulated Laporta "for his unquestionable victory."

With the counting now over, Barcelona said Laporta received 68% of the votes.

The club said that more than 48,000 of Barça’s 114,000 club members cast ballots at Camp Nou Stadium or at four other voting stations across Catalonia in northeastern Spain and in Andorra.

"Thanks to this marvelous club, where its fans still vote to decide who will be their president and executive board,” Laporta said in his victory speech inside an auditorium at Camp Nou, flanked by members of his incoming board.

Laporta successfully presided over Barça from 2003-10 during the glory years of coach Pep Guardiola and a young Lionel Messi.

He was voted back into his post in 2021 when the club was in a dire economic situation after the lavish spending on players by president Josep Bartomeu and the financial hit of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Laporta responded to the crisis by deciding Barcelona could no longer afford Messi, who left for Paris Saint-Germain, and selling off some club assets, including 25% of its Spanish league TV rights for the next 25 years.

The club’s debt, however, has increased under Laporta, growing from 1.3 billion euros to over 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) under his watch.

Font’s campaign tried to paint Laporta as an irresponsible manager who had ruined the future of the club, but Laporta won over more club members with his message that he had saved the club from ruin and now needed another term to finish the job.