Barcelona presidential elections: Who are the 2026 candidates, and why the role of president matters

As one of the only member-owned major clubs left in Europe, Barcelona will take a major step towards defining the future of the institution over the next two months.

On March 15, Barcelona “socios” will elect the next club president who will lead Barcelona into the next era of European and global football. Until then, we’ll have six weeks of campaigning, in which time candidates must drum up sufficient support.

Required by the club’s bylaws to hold elections every five years, the current mandate of president Joan Laporta is set to expire, and he has called for new elections for himself and the board to be held in March. That means the incumbents must resign their positions on Monday, February 9.

The Sporting News explains why this is happening, who the candidates for election could be, and what each one stands for as the Barcelona faithful aim to decide the best leader for the next phase of the club’s illustrious history.

MORE: Who owns Barcelona? Explaining the “socio” model and how to become one

What does the Barcelona president do?

The duties of the president of Barcelona are wide-ranging. The individual is responsible for overseeing players and coaches signing contracts, managing the finances of the club, chairing General Assembly meetings, and much more.

In essence, the president runs the day-to-day operations of the club while serving as the public face of the team and Barcelona brand. Barca’s executives, such as the sporting director, report to the president.

From 2026 onwards, presidential terms at Barcelona will be five years in length, at which point elections must be held for both president and all board members. Laporta’s current term will be the last to run for six years. According to Mundo Deportivo, Laporta said “sometimes, six years is just too long” during his campaign for election in 2021.

When is the Barcelona presidential election?

Laporta has scheduled the presidential election for Barcelona for March 15, 2026.

As per club statutes, Laporta has stated that he will resign from his position at the General Assembly on Monday, February 9, along with a significant number of the board. Starting then, candidates for election will go about gathering signatures, as they require at least 2,321 socios to support their candidacy to officially stand for election.

From then until the election, a regency will take charge of the club. A number of board members — at least six, or one third of the total board — are likely to remain in position to avoid necessitating the formation of a temporary management committee.

Challengers to Laporta have criticized the decision to hold elections midseason, stating that the timeline “suits Laporta” but does not do the club the service of a fully fair and balanced election process.

Candidates for 2026 Barcelona presidential election

Candidates for Barcelona president must have been a socio for at least 10 years, and must gather at least 2,321 socio signatures backing their candidacy.

Presidential candidates are also required to, together with their executive board, present a “financial guarantee” worth 15 percent of the club’s budget. Barcelona’s club statutes state that the executive board is “liable for their actions” while in office, and thus the guarantee is a means of backing that claim financially, with the aim to protect against poor governance and mismanagement.

While this process plays out, candidates for election will not be finalized until they present both the signatures and financial backing to solidify their candidacy. This process will not conclude until closer to the date of the election, and thus this list of candidates is, for now, simply a list of “pre-candidates”.

Incumbent: Joan Laporta

The sitting president of Barcelona is Joan Laporta. He has been in office since being elected in 2021, taking over for Josep Bartomeu, who had resigned in 2020 amid widespread anger at the club’s management, specifically the dire financial situation and Bartomeu’s public spat with Lionel Messi.

Laporta is currently in his second stint as president of the club. He was first elected in 2003 and spent seven years at the helm, during which he saw the rise of Messi and the hiring of Pep Guardiola.

After a decade spent in Catalan politics, Laporta returned to Barcelona with his election in 2021, where he has since been tasked with stabilising the club’s finances after the emergency situation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and years of financial mismanagement under Bartomeu.

Under Laporta’s leadership, Barcelona are through the most immediate danger brought about by their money struggles, when it seemed shockingly plausible that they could cease to exist entirely, but they are still significantly in debt.

The club is believed to owe around €1.5 billion ($1.8bn), thanks in part to the massive renovation project to update their stadium, Camp Nou. The club is banking on revenue from the improved venue to rectify the situation in the long term, but for now, they are still under considerable financial strain.

According to Barcelona’s treasurer in January of 2026, the club still has liabilities of around €2.5bn ($3bn), with the New York Times describing Laporta’s strategy as “spending its way out of crisis.”

The Camp Nou renovation is Laporta’s crown jewel, and he has platformed on the goal of hosting the 2029 UEFA Champions League final at the newly overhauled stadium. Unfortunately, the renovation process has not been smooth and has been saddled with financial overreaches, significant delays, and other bad press including water leaks.

Challenger: Victor Font

Victor Font, 53, is making a second run at the Barcelona presidency, and is considered the most serious challenger to the incumbent. He lost to Laporta in the 2021 election to replace Bartomeu, receiving 30 percent of the vote to Laporta’s 54.3 percent.

Font is the co-founder of Delta Partners, a financial tech consulting firm, and has deep roots in Catalan football. He is a part-owner of Catalan publication Ara and also of football analytics company Kognia Sports Intelligence.

Font’s main platform is a pullback on Laporta’s aggressive financial tactics. He has criticized Laporta’s use of “levers” to achieve short-term financial solvency at the cost of leveraging the club’s future earnings. Critics of his economic plan believe that it will harm Barcelona’s ability to compete now, which could damage the club’s image and trajectory.

Font has also platformed on reducing the presidential term to four years alongside other reforms such as overhauling the requirements to run for a position on the board. He also wishes to create a ticket package tailored to socios who are not season-ticket holders, and he is promoting an expanded voting system that incentivises mail-in and electronic voting for long-distance members.

Perhaps Font’s most publicized campaign promise is that he wishes to make every possible effort to bring Messi back to Barcelona to finish his career where it began.

Challenger: Xavier Vilajoana

Xavier Vilajoana, also 53, is the CEO of Grup Euroconstruc, a development company specializing in affordable housing and sustainable construction. He attempted to run in the 2021 election but could not earn the requisite number of socio signatures.

Vilajoana was once, in his youth, a member of the famed La Masia academy, and went on to captain Barcelona’s futsal team. He has been heavily involved in Barcelona’s executive setup since then, and was on the board during Bartomeu’s presidency.

Given his efforts within the club, Vilajoana has attempted to take credit for a lot of the club’s current success on the pitch, pointing to the successful current youth product. He is concurrently saying that Laporta’s claims to their recent run of results under Hansi Flick should not be attributed to the sitting president, but instead the years of groundwork laid by previous regimes to which Vilajoana was a key contributor.

While Vilajoana’s knowledge of the club’s history, background, and inner workings is clear, his ties to a disgraced Bartomeu will likely work against him in any bid for the presidency, even if he has tried to distance himself from that time.

Challenger: Marc Ciria

The final presidential candidate is sports economist and financier Marc Ciria.

Ciria has taken Font’s promise to bring Messi back to Barcelona one step further, not only claiming he will pursue it with reckless abandon, but calling such a move “strategic… for the future of the club and to protect and preserve the ownership model.” Ciria pointed to the club’s current revenue, which he says is below expectations when comparing it to Messi’s time at the club, as proof that the Blaugrana legend is “essential” to the club’s health.

Dubbed “Movement 42,” Ciria’s plan centers around massive restructuring of the club’s financial setup. “When things aren’t working, you have to change them, you have to start over,” Ciria says.