Laporta’s first rival for Barcelona presidency steps up – report

Joan Laporta’s second presidency tenure at Barcelona has not quite gone to plan. Indeed the Spanish administrator has overseen the team win a special La Liga title against all odds, yet, has been a mixed bag in the larger sense.

The Catalans’ growth on the field has largely stagnated, but the biggest evil he must fight is the economic perception of Barcelona.

Stepping into the presidency three years ago, Laporta vowed to undo the financial damage done by Josep Maria Bartomeu’s board over the past decade, but the club are still far from being able to compete on the transfer market.

The scene in 2026

In 2026, Laporta will once again run for the Presidency of the club, hoping to extend his tenure by one further term. As revealed by SPORT, he sees a familiar face in Marc Ciria step up as his first rival.

Ciria, a Spanish businessman and an expert in finances has announced his pre-candidacy for the 2026 presidential elections in Barcelona.

Laporta’s presidential term ends in 2026. (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

As an individual invested in the financial world for over 20 years, he has a deeper understanding of managing economics and crisis-solving.

In 2015, he founded Diagonal Inversiones AV, an investment bank that became Diagonal Asset Management two years ago.

Interestingly, Ciria and Laporta are no strangers to each other. The former was part of the current Barcelona president’s candidacy in 2015 as a financial expert, but it was Bartomeu who won the election that time around.

A vocal critic

Ciria has been a strong opposer of Joan Laporta’s idea of utilising economic levers and salvaging the club’s future for present-day gains. In fact, he recently even admitted that the solution was not sustainable in the long term.

“Barça has a gap of more than €400 million in ordinary exploitation. Something that has been compensated with extraordinary income (levers), hence the benefit, but it is not a sustainable situation over time.”

“I would tell the members that the club and Laporta’s board of directors have done things right and other things wrong,” he added in a recent interview.