La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation once again rejected Barcelona’s urgent attempts to register Dani Olmo and avert a potentially embarrassing departure of their star playmaker.
The futures of Olmo and young forward Pau Victor have been in limbo due to financial and administrative hurdles, which have prevented their registration beyond 2024.
Despite their mounting debts, Barcelona managed to register Olmo last summer without violating La Liga’s budget regulations after defender Andreas Christensen’s injury in August.
The club lost two court cases in an attempt to extend the registrations until the end of the season, and La Liga removed Olmo and Victor from the official squad list on January 1.
Barcelona applied for new licenses through the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), with reports stating that they had sold VIP seats at the future Camp Nou to raise 100 million euros ($103 million), which would boost their budget and facilitate the registrations.
La Liga confirmed it had raised Barcelona’s squad budget cap after the club complied with financial rules on Friday and submitted the necessary documentation, according to a joint statement from La Liga and the RFEF on Saturday.
However, the commission handling Olmo and Victor’s applications decided not to grant the licenses due to RFEF regulations, which prevent a player from re-registering with the same team after their license is canceled during the same season.
Olmo’s contract, which was originally set to run until 2030, includes a clause allowing him to leave if he cannot be registered, but Barcelona still has the option to appeal the ruling, according to Spanish media reports.
Both Olmo and Victor were excluded from Barcelona coach Hansi Flick’s squad list for the Copa del Rey match against fourth-tier Barbastro on Saturday.