Joan Laporta

Joan Laporta Estruch (Barcelona, June 29, 1962) is a Spanish lawyer, businessman and politician, current president of Fútbol Club Barcelona since March 17, 2021, serving his second term at in front of the Barcelona entity. He has also been a deputy for the Parliament of Catalonia and a councilor for the Barcelona City Council. He has a Law degree from the University of Barcelona (UB) and a member of the Barcelona Bar Association, as well as the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of the Ernest Lluch Foundation. He completed the Master's Degree in Company Law and Tax Experts from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores at the Abat Oliba CEU University in Barcelona, and the Diploma course in Commercial Company Law from the Barcelona Bar Association.

In turn, Laporta is a founding partner and owner of the law firm Laporta & Arbós and collaborating professor at the Real Estate and Registry Law Seminar of the Faculty of Technical Architects of the University of Barcelona (UB). He was also a personal adviser to the Japanese consul in Barcelona. He is separated from Constanza Echevarría, with whom he has three children: Pol, Guim and Joan.

F. C. Barcelona

Opposition to "nuñismo"

He became known among Barcelona members in 1998, when at just 35 years old he was part of Àngel Fernández's candidacy in the elections for the presidency of FC Barcelona, which José Luis Núñez won again.

A year later, in 1998, Laporta came back to the fore leading the platform "Elefant Blau" (Blue Elephant), which promoted a motion of censure against the then president of the entity José Luis Núñez, which was unsuccessful. The "Elefant Blau", which also included Albert Vicens, Jordi Moix, Alfons Godall and Albert Perrín (future managers of the club), obtained the support of 24,863 members, but 40,327 partners supported Núñez's management. In the presidential elections held in 2000, Joan Laporta joined the candidacy of publicist Lluís Bassat, but he was unable to defeat Joan Gaspart, who was elected president.

After the 2000 elections, and given the poor performance of Gaspart's management in the presidency, Laporta began to form a working group with which to run for the elections, in case they were brought forward. Laporta decided to form his own candidacy, independent from Bassat's, in which he brought together young businessmen who had accompanied him. Sandro Rosell became Laporta's right-hand man, and the person in charge of sports matters: in the event of winning the elections, he would be the sports vice-president. Rosell, in turn, contributed to the candidacy team various businessmen he trusted, such as Jordi Monés or Josep Maria Bartomeu.

2003: The arrival of the presidency

Joan Laporta as president of FC Barcelona

After the resignation of Gaspart in February 2003 and the interim presidency of Enric Reyna, elections were called. Laporta officially presented his candidacy for the elections held on June 15, 2003, remembered for the largest number of candidates ever in a Barcelona election, with a total of six (Joan Laporta, Lluís Bassat, Jaume Llauradó, Josep Martínez- Rovira, Josep Maria Minguella and Jordi Majó). All the polls gave Lluis Bassat the great favourite, who stood in the elections backed by prestigious figures from Catalan and Barcelona society, such as Miquel Roca Junyent, Salvador Alemany, Evarist Murtra or Judit Mascó, and presented former player Pep Guardiola as a future sports director in case of winning the elections.

Laporta was the last candidate to publicly present his candidacy. He did so with the electoral slogan First, Barça (First, Barça), and surrounded by a great team of young and successful businessmen between the ages of 35 and 45 who, they said, were determined to dedicate & #34;the best years of his life" to F.C. Barcelona. The Laporta team's program proposed a complete break with the past.

On the sporting front, he defined his program with the metaphor of the "virtuous circle": he promised to hire two great media stars and three excellent players who would give titles and spectacle, return the club to first place in sports and world media and, with this, they generated an increase in economic income that, in turn, allowed them to continue signing great players. Furthermore, despite the fact that Laporta did not openly say so at any time, the media announced that Johan Cruyff (of whom Laporta was, as well as a friend, his personal lawyer) supported Laporta's candidacy.

The candidacy of Laporta's team created a great impact among the Catalan public opinion. Unlike the rest of the candidates (whose age was around 60), Laporta appeared as a handsome and determined young man, with a great command of oratory and the media. They made their presentations using the new information technologies (they were baptized by the press as the kids of the PowerPoint generation) and spoke Catalan, Spanish and English perfectly. In addition, during the electoral campaign, Laporta alternated his television appearances with other young members of his candidacy: Sandro Rosell was the one who went to the debates if it dealt with sports issues, Soriano if it dealt with economic issues, etc. With that they conveyed the sensation of being a group of well-prepared young people who worked as a team, far from the previous presidential style. An English journalist covering the electoral campaign described Laporta as "the Barcelona Kennedy", a definition that was picked up by the Catalan media.

Despite the fact that Bassat's candidacy started out as a great favorite in all the polls, it began to lose strength as the electoral contest drew closer. According to campaign analysts, Bassat accused not being an expert on football issues, not knowing how to explain his idea that the FC Barcelona Foundation should separate from the club, and the fact that, being the favorite, all the other candidates focused in it all his criticisms. Laporta, on the other hand, was closing the gap until becoming, in the last days of the campaign, a clear candidate for victory. The last week of the campaign, moreover, he announced an agreement with Manchester United for the hiring of David Beckham, which Manchester itself confirmed by announcing it on the official website of the English club.

Finally, on June 15, election day took place and, despite the fact that there was no match at the stadium and it was a day of intense heat, there was a massive influx of members to vote. At the time of the recount, there was a big surprise: not only had Laporta won, but he had done so with a margin of difference greater than expected in all the polls.

The results were: Joan Laporta: 27,138 (52.57%); Lluís Bassat: 16,412; Jordi Majó: 2,490; Josep Martínez-Rovira: 2,388; Josep Maria Minguella: 1,867; and Jaume Llauradó: 987.

Laporta became, at the age of 41, the fourth youngest president in the history of F. C. Barcelona.

2003-2004: First season of change

Supported largely by the advice of Johan Cruyff, and on the other by the work of sports vice president Sandro Rosell, he radically changed the club's sports structures and signed former player Txiki Begiristain as technical secretary.

He fired coach Radomir Antić and tried to sign, first Guus Hiddink, but he rejected the offer because the Barcelona club, with serious financial problems, offered him a lower contract than the one he was charging at PSV Eindhoven. Later he tried to sign the then Ajax coach Ronald Koeman, but Ajax wanted to collect a transfer that Barça was not willing to pay. He finally opted for the Dutchman Frank Rijkaard as coach, despite the fact that he had little experience as a coach.

As for the players, Laporta was unable to sign the player he had announced during the electoral campaign: David Beckham signed for Real Madrid. Even so, despite the short time to prepare for the new season and the lack of financial resources at the club due to the mismanagement of the club by the previous president Joan Gaspart, Laporta led a profound renewal of the first team soccer squad.: dropped 12 players, and 44.4 million euros were invested in seven signings (Ronaldinho (27 million euros), Quaresma (6M€), Rafael Márquez (5M€), Luis García (4M€), Mario (€2.4M), Rustu (€0), and Gio Van Bronckhorst (€0)). Given the poor performance of the team in the first months, Edgar Davids joined the team in January, on loan from Juventus.

In his first season as president (2003-2004), the soccer team only won the Catalonia Cup, and came second in the Spanish soccer league, but it recovered the illusion of the Barcelona members, who once again filled the Camp Nou, especially in the second round of the season, in which the team went 17 games without losing. A conclusive fact is that, throughout that season, the number of club members increased by 25,000, reaching 130,000 at the end of 2004. As an anecdote of the season, the decision made by the president in the match of the 2nd day, Barcelona-Seville, which was to play at 00:05 at night to avoid a conflict with the Federation.

From a social point of view, one of the first measures he took upon becoming president of the blaugrana entity was to eradicate violence, especially from a sector of the group "Boixos Nois", for which he received insults and death threats from these fans.

The good feelings transmitted by the soccer team and the board of directors during its first season made Laporta one of the most well-known characters in Catalonia. He was even nominated for the "Catalan of the Year" award.

2004-2005: The first League and the first crisis in the board

Before the start of the second season, the management team led by Laporta and Rosell completed the renewal of the football squad that began the previous year: it gave 16 casualties (Andersson, Cocu, Davids, Kluivert, Luis Enrique, Luis García, Mario, Óscar López, Overmars, Quaresma, Reiziger, Ros, Rustu, Santamaría, Saviola, Sergio García) and invested 67.5 million euros in 9 players (Samuel Eto'o, Deco, Edmílson, Giuly, Belletti, Silvinho, Larsson, Maxi López and Demetrio Albertini).

The soccer season went very well, with the leading team in the Spanish league for most of the season, and displaying soccer that was praised by most of the media. The only setbacks were the eliminations in the Champions League (in the round of 16, at the hands of English Chelsea) and the Copa del Rey. But Barcelona dominated the Spanish League and on May 14, 2005, shortly before the end of his second year in office, the team was proclaimed League champion.

The league ended a six-year drought for major soccer titles, and unleashed euphoria in the streets of Barcelona, which celebrated the title in style. Most of the Catalan public opinion considered the league title as confirmation of the success of the model that Laporta had implanted in the club.

However, despite how well the football season had gone, the 2004-2005 season had not been a smooth season for Laporta. Since the beginning of the season, his estrangement with sports vice president Sandro Rosell had been increasing, who disagreed with some of the president's decisions, and with the advice that Cruyff gave Laporta. In the middle of the season, the divorce between Laporta and Rosell was made public, and sports talk shows on radio and television spoke openly about the dissensions within the board. Several media outlets carried out surveys that revealed that the majority of the members tended to agree with Sandro Rosell, the vice-president to whom the members attributed the successes of sports policy in the football field, and the signing of players like Ronaldinho.

Two events also occurred that season that eroded Laporta's relationship with other executives. On the one hand, Laporta included in the club's board of directors his ex-brother-in-law, Alejandro Echevarría, known in Barcelona circles for his Francoist ideology, contrary to that of the other components of the board.

On the other hand, there was a double controversy in the sports sections of the club. First, because Laporta appointed former handball coach Valero Rivera as the new general manager of the professional sports sections (which included basketball, handball and roller hockey), against the opinion of Sandro Rosell, of Josep María Bartomeu (manager responsible for the sections), by Enric Masip, recently appointed by Laporta himself as Technical Director of the handball section, and those responsible for the basketball section. Massip resigned the same day as Rivera's presentation, which was also not attended by the basketball team's coach, Svetislav Pešić. After a few months, and in the face of protests from the public at the Palau Blaugrana over the poor performance of the basketball team, Valero Rivera resigned. The basketball team, which when Laporta became president was the current champion of the Euroleague and the ACB League, had gone downhill in the last two years. After another defeat, Joan Montes resigned as the team's coach. In the act of presenting Manolo Flores as the new coach, the divorce between Laporta and Josep María Bartomeu, the manager responsible for the sections, was publicly staged. The following day, after an extraordinary meeting was held, Bartomeu was dismissed by Laporta as head of the sections.

On June 2, 2005, just fifteen days after his first great sporting success, the victory in the Spanish soccer league, he had to face the resignation of four of the directors of his board (Sandro Rosell, Jordi Monés, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Jordi Moix), who resigned from their posts before the division that the board had been living for months. The four resignations, led by sports vice president Sandro Rosell, denounced that Laporta was no longer the same as he was two years ago, and that values such as democracy, transparency or teamwork had deteriorated in the board, in favor of of authoritarianism, opacity and the ambition for power. The crisis had a great media impact. Subsequently, a fifth manager, Xavier Faus, even resigned.

2005-2006: About the end of the mandate

This year, in sports, Barcelona won the second consecutive league and the second Champions League in the history of the entity.

The length of the Laporta junta's term has not been without controversy. According to the statutes (art. 29 of the Club's statutes) this must be extended for four calendar years. However, said article also stipulates that when the board is renewed due to the early termination of the previous mandate, the new mandate will expire on the fourth June 30 following the resignation of the previous board. According to Laporta and his collaborators, the date of the elections should have been in 2007 and according to other interpretations, in 2006. This case was taken to the courts of the city of Barcelona and the Catalan Sports Court (TCE). On July 20, 2006, Judge Roberto García Ceniceros of the court of first instance number 30 of Barcelona handed down a sentence in which the current board of directors was obliged to call elections immediately, as claimed by the partner of the entity Joan March Torne. The management commission, which assumed the functions of the board of directors, chaired by the economist Xavier Sala i Martín determined the final electoral calendar, which contemplated September 3 as the date for the elections. However, on August 21, 2006, Laporta was the only pre-candidate for the presidency who delivered 8,994 member signatures, more than the 1,804 that are necessary to become president of the club, for which he was once again named president of F.C. Barcelona. without having to go to the polls, thus beginning his second term as president of F.C. Barcelona that would end in the summer of 2010.

2006-2007: Beginning of the end of the cycle

The 2006/07 season began with the Spanish Super Cup that Barça beat Espanyol, their local rival, but failed to win the next title when they lost the European Super Cup 3-0 to Sevilla in Monaco in August 2006. The season continued and the month of December arrived, the club also arrived as a favorite for the Club World Cup but lost to Inter de Porto Alegre.

At the UEFA Champions League level they were eliminated in the round of 16 against Liverpool. In the semifinals of the Copa del Rey they were eliminated against Getafe who won the second leg 4-0 after a resounding 5-2 in favor of Barcelona in the first leg. Then there was only the league competition in which, after a very tight finish, they ended up losing the title against Real Madrid, with whom they ended up level on points, falling behind due to the goal difference in favor of the whites in the clashes between the two.

The season ended with Barcelona failing to win any major titles.

2007-2008: Motion of no confidence

For the 2007/2008 season, Barça strengthened itself and Laporta closed the contracts of the Frenchmen Thierry Henry and Éric Abidal, the Ivorian Yaya Touré and the Argentine Gabriel Milito. Along with Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto'o, Henry formed the offensive quartet known as the fantastic 4. Many fans had called for Laporta's resignation after the defeat on December 23, 2007 against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou. The same situation was experienced on April 6, 2008, but this time in a goalless draw against Getafe CF, which provoked a reaction from the stands demanding his immediate resignation due to the lack of titles that the club has experienced in recent years. When Barça was eliminated from the Champions League, the fans who wanted the president to be dismissed were already the majority, since it meant another blank season as they had no chance of winning the league. The straw that broke the camel's back was on May 7, 2008 during "el Clásico" against Real Madrid, where Barça was severely defeated, as it caused a motion of no confidence to fall on Laporta, which would not end up prospering.

2008-2009: Social fracture and the best team in the world

Banners of censorship motion.

After 5 years on the club's bench, the board of directors reached an agreement with Frank Rijkaard to terminate his contract, being relieved by Pep Guardiola, until then the manager of the subsidiary, a symbol of the club, but with little experience. This year, FC Barcelona was reinforced with the signings of Gerard Piqué, Dani Alves, Martín Cáceres, Seydou Keita, Aliaksandr Hleb and Henrique. After a pre-season in which the Barcelona Atlètic players played an outstanding role, youth squads Sergio Busquets and Pedro also joined the first team squad.

The board of directors delayed as much as possible the date that finally was July 6, 2008, the day on which the Barcelona social mass voted the motion of censure against the management of the board chaired by Joan Laporta. 60.6% of the social mass of F. C. Barcelona voted in favor of the motion of censure, that is, against the president of F. C. Barcelona and his Board of Directors. With a very high turnout (39,389 votes) taking into account that it was held in the summer and not on match day. But the figure of 66.6% set by the club's statutes, for the resignation of the leaders and the call for elections, was not reached.

Bloc resignation of executives in the face of a castled president

On July 10, 2008, eight of the 17 directors of the club's board of directors resigned, including three of the five vice presidents. Vice Presidents Albert Vicenç (Institutional Area), Ferran Soriano (Economic Area) and Marc Ingla (Sports Area). The members Toni Rovira, Xavier Cambra, Claudia Vives-Fierro, Josep Lluís Vilaseca and Evarist Murtra also resigned, due to the fact that 60.6% of the partners voted against the management of the board of directors headed by Laporta.

The resigners tried to convince the president to resign to facilitate the management of the club until the elections were called, the date would result from the next annual meeting of delegate members to be held in September 2008. Laporta refused to resign and revealed his intention to appoint four new directors -he only had 10 after this resignation- to comply with the club's statutes, which dictate the termination of the board of directors after the departure of 75% of the members of the board.

Therefore, President Laporta remained in office with the "hard core", that is, with the vice-presidents Jaume Ferrer and Alfons Godall, the members Albert Perrín, Rafael Yuste, Joan Boix, Joan Franquesa, Jacint Borràs, Josep Cubells and Alfonso Castro. The president contacted (on July 11, 2008) to fill the vacancies with people close to former president Joan Gaspart.

The first "sextet"

On the sporting front, Laporta appointed Guardiola as the new coach of the club to replace the already dismissed Rijkaard. Few culés trusted the Catalan coach, and after a not very hopeful start to the league (only 1 point out of 6 possible), the team came back and spent the whole season at the top of the League. And after a historic 2-6 win at the Santiago Bernabéu itself, Barça was crowned League champion, before that they had won the Copa del Rey by beating Athletic Club 4-1 at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia. But the climax came in the Champions League final in Rome where FC Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 with goals from Eto'o and Messi and gave Barça the third European Cup.

But the Barcelona legend continued with the Spanish Soccer Super Cup, in a two-game tie against Athletic Club, and with the European Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk in Monaco. As a climax, the club became World Champion, winning the final of the FIFA Club World Cup over Estudiantes de La Plata, thus achieving the 6 consecutive titles at stake in a single calendar year, known as the " sextet", a feat that no club had ever accomplished before.

2009-2010: Internal spying on the board of directors

Joan Oliver General Director of F. C. Barcelona asked a specialized company to monitor managers Joan Boix, Joan Franquesa, Rafael Yuste and Jaume Ferrer beyond their activity at the club. Oliver indicated that monitoring members of the club's Board of Directors was made without Laporta's knowledge. The reports resulting from the follow-up reveal anomalies, but they are not very relevant. In carrying them out, it is ensured that the private lives of the directors were not spied on. The matter of wiretapping gives rise to the umpteenth institutional crisis of a directive that was refounded in July 2008 with the motion of no confidence in Joan Laporta. The basis of the investigation is to find out which managers may be more suitable to run for the presidency of the club in 2010.

Titles won by the club under its First Stage as President

A total of 59 official titles were obtained:

Trophies

• Trophy Pedro Zaballa 2003-2004, awarded by the Royal Spanish Football Federation to try to eradicate violent behaviors in football.

2021-present: Return to the presidency of F. C. Barcelona

In November 2020, Laporta announced his candidacy for the presidency for the 2021 FC Barcelona presidential elections. In January 2021, he officially entered the presidential race after presenting 10,252 signatures of which 9,625 were validated and was the favorite to win the presidential elections. On March 7, Laporta won the presidential elections, in which he obtained 54.28% of the votes ahead of Víctor Font and Toni Freixa who obtained 29.99% and 8.58% of the votes. votes respectively. The day after the elections, he announced Ferran Reverter as executive director (CEO) of the club and Mateu Alemany as director of football. Ten days later, the new board of directors decided to fire Román Gómez Ponti as head of the club's legal affairs and Albert Soler Sicilia as head of the club's professional sections, being temporarily replaced by Cristina Belloque and Òscar Grau respectively. Likewise, the non-renewal of Kluivert as head of grassroots football beyond June 30, 2021 was announced. In the following days, he signed Jaime Guardiola Romojaro as president of the Statutory Commission and future president of the Management Board in the event of a period electoral. In April 2021, he signed Ferran López Navarro as the club's head of security. That same month he fired Juanjo Castillo as deputy to the Presidency, being replaced by Enric Masip. Also in April, he appointed Juan Carlos Navarro as General Manager of the Basket, replacing Nacho Rodríguez in the position. At the end of this month and the beginning of the next, he continues to restructure the club's executive area, dismissing Òscar Grau as head of the professional sections and Pere Jansà as Director of the Social Area, being replaced by Xavier Budó and Anna Aznar respectively.

In May he appoints Alex Santos as director of communication. In the sections there were also novelties in women's football by renewing coach Lluís Cortés. The departure of the handball coach, Xavi Pascual, was also announced. Later he fired Xavi Martín as director of La Masia, the next day he would name Mike Puig as his replacement. On May 20 it was learned that Carles Cendrós was returning to the club to take care of the Human Resources Area, in turn, in the other areas he announced Guillem Graell as head of the Brand Area; In the Revenue Area, he hired Alex Barbany and in the Technology Area, Juan Manuel Tabero. At the end of May he would remove David Barrufet from the club as General Manager of Handball, thus leaving the club after 37 years. Txus Lahoz, General Manager of Futsal, was also fired; and the coach Andreu Plaza. Xavier O'Callaghan stopped being the Director of the Barça Office in New York to be the General Manager of the Professional Sections of Handball, Futsal and Roller Hockey. In turn, Markel Zubizarreta continued to be confirmed as General Manager of Women's Soccer. In addition, at a press conference he would confirm Antonio Carlos Ortega as the new handball coach and ratify Šarūnas Jasikevičius as basketball coach. During his tenure, they became the first team to win both the Men's and Women's Champions League, in addition to achieving the first treble in both genders.

On May 31, he began to remodel the first team squad by signing Sergio Agüero, Èric García at zero cost. He also signed Emerson Royal for 9 million euros. On June 3, he announced Jordi Cruyff as sports adviser, also that same day, after a period of reflection and dispelling rumors of a possible dismissal, he confirmed Koeman as coach for the 2021-22 season. As a novelty, it was also reported that Jesús Velasco was the new futsal coach. On June 11, there was a restructuring in grassroots football, firing F.J. García Pimienta as the Barça B coach, Jordi Roura, Aureli Altimira, Alex García and Mario Ruiz as the subsidiary's press officer. José Ramón Alexanko was appointed director of grassroots football. In turn, the departure of Guillermo Amor as director of institutional relations was announced. On June 17, Sergi Barjuan is announced as coach of Barça B. The creation of the female Joan Gamper Trophy was also reported. The remodeling of the first team was followed by signing Memphis Depay at zero cost. On August 5, he announced that despite reaching an agreement with Messi, the new contract could not be formalized due to economic and structural obstacles that the entity had due to the mismanagement of the previous president Josep Maria Bartomeu, also aggravated by the harsh economic laws imposed on the club by the League. On August 31, the spectacular remodeling of the squad closed in the 2021 summer transfer window, giving 6 signings for only 9 million euros and 14 withdrawals with 86 million euros of benefits. That same day he signed Luuk de Jong on loan for a year. He also managed to lower the salary of the captains Piqué, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. The footballer Emerson Royal, who was bought for 9 million euros and later sold to Tottenham Hotspur for a higher figure, opened La Masia for women footballers for the first time in history. He appointed Marta Segú as General Director of the F.C.B.

Barça had the worst start in its history in the 2021-22 Champions League, with two wins against and zero goals in favor, without depending on itself. Days later the terrible streak continued, Barça lost 2-0 against Atlético de Madrid by League, remaining 5 points behind the leader. In the assembly of compromising members it was approved to renew the statutes of the club with the novelty that from now on whoever wants to become a member can do so online, new financing for the Espai Barca.

Barça would fall again 1-2 with Real Madrid for the 2021-22 League, reaching 4 games without winning in the classic, with the last 4 defeats in a row. On October 27, 2021, faced with the painful situation of Barcelona, He sacked Koeman as first team coach, leaving Barcelona in ninth place in the league and a considerable distance from the leaders. The next day, he appointed Sergi Barjuan as interim first team coach and Albert Capellas (Assistant to José Ramón Alexanko grassroots football) as interim coach of Barça B. On November 5, he appointed Xavi Hernández as first team coach until 2024, with whom he once again saw a vast improvement in the game and in the team's results. On November 16, he announced the departure of the technical secretary, Ramón Planes.

During his tenure, it became the first club to have the winner of the Ballon d'Or and The Best FIFA Award, both for men and women, awarded to Alexia Putellas on November 29, 2021 and January 17, 2022 respectively. On December 19, 2021, for the first time in the club's history, a telematic referendum was organized via the internet for the new financing of Espai Barça. The result was that 48,623 members participated, it would be approved with 42,693 votes in favor.

During the winter transfer window, the first team began to be reinforced. The return of Dani Alves took place, who returned after 5 years of his departure. The signing of Ferran Torres for 55 million euros. The transfer of Adama Traoré, the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Sergio Agüero, Yusuf Demir, Philippe Coutinho, Álex Collado and Iñaki Peña were dropped, the latter three on loan. On January 12, 2022, Barça lost 2-3 to Real Madrid, being eliminated from the 2022 Spanish Super Cup. On January 20, FC Barcelona was eliminated in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey against Athletic Club in the New San Mamés by 3-2.

On March 15, 2022 it was announced that Spotify had reached an agreement with F. C. Barcelona for the next 4 seasons that includes sponsorship of the men's and women's front match shirts, replacing Rakuten and Stanley respectively, both for the kits as well as the training shirts of both genders for the next 3 seasons, in addition to the fact that the stadium will be renamed Spotify Camp Nou.

On March 20, with Xavi Hernández's first match as coach at the Santiago Bernabéu, Barça thrashed Real Madrid CF 0-4 in the 2021-22 League, breaking the losing streak of 5 consecutive defeats against their greatest rival. On March 24, it was announced that UNHCR-UNHCR, the United Nations Agency for Refugees, reached an agreement with FC Barcelona for the next 4 seasons that includes men's and women's first team football and the Barça Genuine Foundation team. On May 28, it was confirmed that the Barcelona City Council gave the building license to start the Espai Barça from this summer of 2022. It was also announced that for the 2023-24 season, Barcelona will play its home games at the Estadio Olímpico de Montjuïc.

Under Xavi's guidance, the club rose from ninth place to second place, as well as going on a streak of 15 consecutive league games without losing, and without losing any league games away from home.

During the summer of 2022, he fired Sergi Barjuan as coach of Barça Atlètic and replaced him with Rafael Márquez. The old name of the second team was also recovered, renaming itself as Barcelona Atlètic.

Regarding the First Team, he completely remodeled it, with the following casualties: Philippe Coutinho, Adama Traoré, Luuk de Jong, Dani Alves, Ferran Jutglà, Rey Manaj, Moussa Wagué, Neto, Óscar Mingueza, Riqui Puig, Martin Braithwaite, Pierre -Emerick Aubameyang Miralem Pjanić and the loans of Ez Abde, Clément Lenglet, Francisco Trincão, Nico González, Álex Collado, Samuel Umtiti and Sergiño Dest. He signed or recovered the following footballers: Iñaki Peña, Robert Lewandowski, Pablo Torre, Jules Koundé, Raphinha Dias, Franck Kessié, Andreas Christensen, Héctor Bellerín, Marcos Alonso and the reinstatement of Ousmane Dembélé, who had terminated his contract. Everything described above could be done thanks to the sale of the league's 25-year TV rights (known as BLM or Barça Licensing & Merchandising) with the approval of the Compromising Members through an extraordinary meeting held on the 16th of June 2022.

The club under the orders of Xavi Hernández would achieve one of the best league starts in its history, adding 37 of 42 possible points in the first 14 games, only drawing 1 game and losing another, just before the start of the World Cup. However, in the Champions League they would be matched with Bayern, Inter and Viktoria Plzen, and despite getting a 5-1 victory against the latter in the first group stage match, they would be eliminated from this, finishing third., after the results against Bayern and Inter, with unfavorable arbitration decisions.

On January 15, 2023, Barça defeated Real Madrid 3-1 in Saudi Arabia and was crowned champion of the 2023 Spanish Super Cup, this being the second title of the new Laporta era.

During the winter window of the 2022/2023 season, there were 4 casualties: the withdrawal of Gerard Piqué and the transfers of Antoine Griezmann Memphis Depay and Héctor Bellerín.

On April 24, 2023, it was announced that financing of 1,450 million euros was already available for the new Spotify Camp Nou with 20 different investors

In May 2023, due to the bad economic situation of the club, it was announced that BarçaTV would close as of June 30.

In that same month, the departure of Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff was announced as of June 30.

On May 14, with a 4-2 victory at the Cornellá-El Prat Stadium, they were proclaimed league champions 4 years later with 4 days left to finish the championship. The following day there was a joint parade of the men's and women's league champion teams through the streets of Barcelona.

Titles won by the club under its Second Stage as President

To date, 42 official titles have been achieved:

Politics

Joan Laporta on arrival at the 2009 Golden Microphone Awards in Ponferrada.

Joan Laporta, declares himself a pro-independence supporter and dreams of a “Catalan nation organized into its own State”, was linked to politics in the mid-1990s as a member of Partit per la Independència (1996-1999), a party created by Pilar Rahola, Àngel Colom and himself that advocated for the independence of Catalonia. Due to the bad electoral results, the party ended up dissolving. From there, and for a time, he was linked to CiU and ERC.

Independence is essential for Catalonia because it affects all people who live and work in our community, because it does not break any sentimental relationship with anyone and because it is the only way to get out of the economic, democratic and cultural crisis in which unfortunately we are installed.

Joan Laporta, in an interview with The Chamber in 2011

In 2005, already as president of Barça, he found himself involved in another political scandal: his then brother-in-law Alejandro Echevarría —son of businessman Juan Echevarría Puig— resigned from the club after his membership of the Francisco Franco Foundation was made public.

Five years later he founded the political party Democràcia Catalana with the aim of declaring the independence of Catalonia. Facing the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia in 2010, Democràcia Catalana is integrated into Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència (SI), a candidacy promoted by himself, along with Alfons López Tena and Uriel Bertran. In the Solidaritat Catalana primary elections, held on September 4, 2010, Laporta ran — leading a team made up of the lawyer Alfons López Tena, Uriel Bertran, the Valencian writer Isabel Clara-Simó, Anna Arqué and Emili Valdero — and, As a result of these primary elections, Laporta was elected head of the Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència list for the Barcelona constituency. He eventually obtained a seat in the Parliament of Catalonia.

On May 22, he was elected mayor of the city by the coalition of Esquerra, Reagrupament and others, being number two on the list that obtained exactly two minutes in the municipal elections held and which was won by the convergent Xavier Trías.

It also analyzes, in the Post-election Interviews cycle of this digital newspaper, the situation after the 2011 elections.

He left politics at the end of his term as councilor, to run again in the elections for F. C. Barcelona.