Ferran Olivé: 'We've hit cruising speed'

FC Barcelona treasurer Ferran Olivé has told an interview with Barça One that "the club is now at cruising speed," which he contrasts with the situation the Board of Directors encountered in 2021. "It has taken us nearly three years" he said. "Achieving a positive ordinary result is extremely difficult for a company, especially considering where we were and where we are now."

FC Barcelona closed the 2023/24 season with a positive ordinary profit of 12 million euros.

Looking back to three years ago, Olivé recalled how, "we found ourselves in the perfect economic storm. There was a negative result, a cash flow problem where the club could not meet the payments for the following month, and we had negative equity exceeding 450 million."

"On top of these three issues, we were concerned about the payments the club had already committed to. It was like a ship with a hole in the hull, and you kept trying to plug it up to keep the ship afloat. Because of these commitments, what we couldn’t fix was the ordinary year. But now the ship has reached cruising speed."

New stadium

The treasurer also spoke about the implications of not being able to play at Spotify Camp Nou. "Coming from the situation we were in, economically speaking, building a new stadium was the least advisable option" he said. "But we considered something that had no turning back: either we built the new stadium at that time, or we would find ourselves at a disadvantage compared to other clubs, who are our competitors and already have their stadiums practically finished."

However, all this time playing at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys has come at a cost. "This transition has penalised us" admitted Olivñe. "And we’ve lost 100 million in revenue."

80 million from player sales

Olivé also clarified that the 80 million euros generated from player sales, which have resulted in record profits in this area, are not due to any kind of financial manipulation. "These sales occurred at the beginning of the season" he insisted. "It wasn’t a case of dressing up the financial results; it was the club’s own ability to generate business, as it should do."