FC Barcelona are slowly showing signs of recovering from their moutiain of debts after posting profits of 98 million euros for the 2021-22 financial year and are forecasting an increase to 274 million for this season.
The club’s board of directors have approved an operating income budget of 1.255 billion euros for this season after closing the financial year with a turnover of 1.017 billion euros. Barcelona also ranks second on Forbes’ list of football team valuations with a current value of $5 billion, behind rivals Real Madrid, who are valued at $5.1 billion.
The process of complying with La Liga’s financial fair play rules has been easy for the Catalan giants requiring them to make some stern decisions regarding players’ salaries and transfer budgets.
Barca needed to sell a large share of its enterprises to comply with restrictions.
To offset losses and comply with LaLiga’s financial fair play rules, Barcelona sold 25% of their domestic television rights to U.S. investment firm Sixth Street for the next 25 years in two separate deals worth over 500 million euros.
They also raised an additional 200 million euros from the sale of a total 49% stake in Barca Studios in two separate transactions and brought on Spotify as a sponsor in March.
This all not only helped Barcelona post profits for the first time in years but also helped the club bring in much-needed players like Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde for transfer fees while Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Hector Bellerin and Marcos Alonso all arrived on free transfers.
Earlier this month the league also raised Barcelona’s spending limit by 800 million euros auguring a return to its former glory.
They currently sit second in the league table with 16 points, behind leaders Real Madrid.