Barça: Laliga's response to the CSD

The Spanish League chaired by Javier Tebas was quick to react. Earlier in the afternoon, the Higher Committee for Spanish Sport (CSD) invalidated Laliga's decision vis-à-vis FC Barcelona. As a reminder, the League has not accepted the financing of the sale of VIP places of the future Camp Nou, justifying several gray areas. An announcement that led to the suspension of the Dani Olmo and Pau Victor licenses. Since then, the CSD has invalidated the decision of the League and has maintained the licenses of the two Blaugranas which can evolve with their team until the end of the season. Faced with this answer, Laliga retaliated with a press release.

“Laliga has taken note today of the resolution of the CSD, which resolves the appeal filed by FC Barcelona and the Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor players on January 7, 2025, contesting the refusal of preliminary visa and recording of these players by Laliga and the RFEF. After having analyzed this resolution, which grants the appeal based on the alleged incompetence of the monitoring commission for the coordination agreement, Laliga considers that it is necessary to formulate the following considerations:

1. Laliga considers that the dismissal decision notified today does not comply with the law, for the following reasons, among others:

has. The refusal to grant a prior visa for the renewal of licenses or for their re -registration is an act which results from the automatic application of the rules relating to the registration of players. In this context, the agreements adopted by the RFEF-Laliga Agreement Monitoring Commission on January 4, 2025 were limited to confirming the legal impossibility of dealing with new licenses, thus ratifying the literal application of federative regulations. This aspect is the skills of the commission. This is also confirmed by the fact that FC Barcelona called on the decision of the budgetary validation organization (OVP) preventing the issuance of prior authorization to the Directorate of Competitions through the Laliga Manager.

In any event, the decision of the follow -up committee did not replace the decisions previously adopted by the competent bodies of Laliga and the RFEF. In this case, this is the decision of the Laliga competition management via the Laliga Manager system, which is not the subject of this appeal. Consequently, the control commission did not reject the requests of FC Barcelona, ​​but confirmed the rejection of the previous visa made through the Laliga Manager system, as well as the criterion of the legal opinion of the RFEF expressed on December 31, 2024 with regard to the new recordings of players.

b. It should be remembered that the licenses of the two players expired automatically on December 31, 2024, at the end of the agreed duration between the players and the club. Consequently, a unifying act of cancellation of licenses is in no way necessary.

The competence of the CSD in terms of licenses is limited to the control of acts of issuance or refusal of licenses, but not to their cancellation or extension (art. 116.3.A and 117 LD) as in the present case. This, in view of the numerous judicial decisions rendered and even the decisions rendered by the CSD itself, which contravene its previous doctrine, confirming that it is a matter not subject to administrative control.

c. In addition, the CSD's decision ignores the consolidated administrative and judicial doctrine according to which the nullity of law must be manifest, because the competence is expressly entrusted to another body (or to none) and that this is not the case when it takes a prior legal interpretation to determine it, or when the application legislation does not specify which body corresponds to. In this regard, sports legislation does not attribute competence in terms of preliminary visas and issuance of licenses to any organ of professional leagues and Spanish sports federations, and the decision of the CSD does not make the slightest mention of the internal organ of the Laliga or the RFEF which would be competent, so that there can be no “manifest incompetence” allowing to deduct the nullity of law.

d. On the contrary, the actions of Laliga and the RFEF in this case have been limited to the objective and literal application of the regulations applicable through the internal bodies to which these skills have been allocated and which have exercised them peacefully and consolidated over time.

2. The CSD issued the resolution almost three months after the introduction of the appeal, that is to say that it exhausted the maximum legal period, without resolving the urgent request for the urgent lifting of the conservatory measure, adopted on January 8, 2025, formulated by Laliga in its presentation of the facts presented on January 22.

This delay contrasts with the extraordinary speed with which the conservatory measures requested by FC Barcelona and its players were granted in just 24 hours, and without prior hearing of Laliga and the RFEF, thus violating the principles of contradiction and defense.

3. These measures have been adopted without complying with legal requirements and procedural guarantees, thus affecting the integrity of the competition. They are also contrary to the jurispring doctrine of the supreme court and to the approaches which had been previously established by two judicial orders rejecting the conservatory measures (in particular, the order of December 23, 2024 rendered by the Commercial Court n ° 10 of Barcelona and the order of December 30 of the court of first instance n ° 47 of Barcelona). »»