A Thousand Ways Barcelona Can Get Around Salary Cap Rules

BARCELONA, FRIDAY - Less than nine days before the opening match of La Liga against Real Mallorca, Barcelona has still not been able to register five players. A conflict with goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has forced Barca to strategize in order to navigate salary cap regulations to register players and complete the squad.

The issue of player registration has always loomed over Barca as the new season approaches. This is due to La Liga's strict regulations regarding salary caps. Until now, Barca still needs to adjust to these regulations because a few seasons ago, they exceeded the allowed limit in player salary expenditures.

As the 2025-2026 season approaches, Barca is once again facing a similar issue. Five of their players have not yet been registered because Barca has not complied with the salary cap regulations. The five players in question include Marcus Rashford, Joan Garcia, Wojciech Szczesny, Gerard Martin, and Roony Bardghji.

With only nine days remaining until the kickoff of the first match against Real Mallorca, Barca is racing against time to resolve player registration issues.

The conflict with goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has also hindered the process of registering new players. Barca initially planned to utilize 80 percent of Ter Stegen's salary cap to avoid violating salary limit regulations. However, unexpectedly, Ter Stegen opposed this by not allowing Barca to submit his medical report to the Medical Committee of La Liga.

In fact, it is only through this way that Barca can classify Ter Stegen's injury as a long-term injury, thereby creating a loophole to eliminate the salary obligation towards him. The situation has now become increasingly complicated as both Ter Stegen and Barca remain steadfast in their respective positions and have no intention of opening dialogue beforehand.

If this situation is left unaddressed, Barca risks competing without a complete squad next season. To resolve this issue, Barca's management is seeking alternative ways to ensure the registration of the seven players.

One of the options being considered is selling 475 VIP seats at Camp Nou Stadium to two external companies for 30 years, commonly referred to as an economic lever. This move is expected to generate additional revenue for Barca of up to 100 million euros (Rp 1.9 trillion).

Barca is confident that once the audit is approved and La Liga gives the green light, there will be sufficient financial margin to quickly complete all necessary registrations.

If realized, this means that Barca could maneuver more freely to register players as the 1-1 rule of La Liga has been activated. This regulation states that clubs can register multiple players provided there is additional income.

Although the registration of seven new players is still pending, the atmosphere within the club is reported to remain calm. The Barca camp is fully confident that the Spanish League operators will approve the VIP seat agreements and that the five players will be registered in time before the start of the season.

"Barca is confident that once the audit is approved and La Liga gives the green light, there will be sufficient financial margin to quickly complete all necessary registrations," wrote the Spanish sports daily, SPORT, in its report.

The absence of panic within the club is also attributed to the postponement of the registration of five new players, not due to financial instability, but because several final details are being audited by the financial firm Crowe Spain. Barcelona is still awaiting the final audit report, which is crucial for the league operators to validate the club's financial operations. Once Barcelona's financial report is validated, they will be able to activate the 1-1 rule.

In addition to selling 475 VIP seats, another step taken by Barca in parallel is exploring the possibility of releasing several players. Previously, Barca had stated that Oriol Romeu was not part of coach Hansi Flick's plans. Romeu has one season left on his contract, but Barca is willing to release him for free. Girona is reportedly interested in utilizing the services of the 33-year-old defensive midfielder.

Hector Fort and goalkeeper Inaki Pena are also likely to be released by Barca. Fort is struggling to compete with Jules Kounde, who is more trusted to fill the right-back position. Meanwhile, Pena finds it difficult to contend for a position as Barca already has many goalkeepers. Their departure is expected to help alleviate the salary cap pressure.