Joan Laporta

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Joan Laporta in June 2008

Joan Laporta i Estruch (born June 29, 1962 in Barcelona ) is a Spanish lawyer and politician. From 2003 to 2010 he was President of FC Barcelona .

Studies and election as President of FC Barcelona

In 1986 Laporta graduated from the University of Barcelona with a Masters degree in law. In the election of the new president of FC Barcelona on June 16, 2003, he ran as a clear outsider against the 21-year-old publicist Lluis Bassat . With 27,138 votes, however, more than half of the voters voted for him, while Lluis Bassat only won 16,412 votes.

President of FC Barcelona

First official acts, transfers and successes

Laporta took over the presidency from Joan Gaspart on June 20, 2003 , who left the club a mountain of debt of 160 million euros. Its first goal was economic redevelopment. To do this, he cut the salary of the Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert and had the ticket price increased by twenty to forty percent. In addition, the 102-strong management board was reduced in size. Laporta created many opponents inside and outside the club. His campaign promise to sign David Beckham from Manchester United could not be kept; Beckham moved to arch-rivals Real Madrid . Barcelona signed the up-and-coming 23-year-old Ronaldinho from Paris Saint-Germain .

Laporta managed to consolidate the club economically so that new players could be committed. In his first two years in office, Ronaldinho signed Ludovic Giuly from AS Monaco , Samuel Eto'o from Real Mallorca , Mark van Bommel from PSV Eindhoven and Deco from FC Porto . This contributed to the upswing of the club. Laporta is the father of the championship successes in 2005 and 2006 and of winning the Champions League in 2006 , alongside the then coach Frank Rijkaard .

Legal proceedings, sporting crisis and a vote of no confidence

After a court ruling, board elections were held again in August 2006. This was preceded by a lawsuit by three former club members who had been forced out of the club by Laporta and its board of directors. According to the association's statutes, a new board must be elected every four years. A presidency year begins at the beginning of July and ends at the end of June of the following year, so it is roughly oriented towards the beginning and end of a game season. The plaintiffs had enforced that the last two weeks of June of 2003 were counted as the full year of Laporta's office. Laporta, however, remained president through an automatic re-election, as none of his opponents could bring up the 1804 supporter signatures required by the statutes, which entitle them to participate in the presidential election. He himself was able to collect more than 8,000 signatures.

For the 2006/07 season, the two defenders Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram from Juventus Turin , who had been a member of the team that won the football world title in 2006 and 1998, respectively , were committed for about 19 million euros . This was made possible by the forced relegation of Juventus Turin. Icelandic striker Eiður Guðjohnsen had previously moved to Barcelona. However, none of the three players made a lasting impression and stayed with Barcelona for more than three years. The 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons did not bring any significant successes. In addition to coach Frank Rijkaard, Laporta also came under increasing pressure. In particular, the defeats against eternal rivals Real Madrid raised voices calling for his resignation.

During this time, an agreement was made with the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF , which became the first shirt sponsor in the history of FC Barcelona for five years. The association does not receive any money for this, but rather donates 1.5 million euros annually to UNICEF. Laporta wanted to underline the global importance of football and in particular the FC Barcelona motto, Més que un club ('More than a club').

The quarrel with Sandro Rosell , which had been simmering since the beginning of Laporta's presidency , led to a kind of no-confidence vote in the summer of 2008, which was held on July 6, 2008. It was organized by Oriol Giralt. 60 percent of the members of FC Barcelona declared their distrust to Laporta. Numerous board members then resigned from their office; a serious leadership crisis was the result.

Sextuple win

Despite the disastrous result, Laporta decided to stay in office for the time being and to schedule new elections for September. Critics took the view that he wanted to wait for the start of the season and intended to use a possibly good start for the club as an argument for re-election. At the start of the 2008/09 season were Dani Alves from Sevilla commits and Gerard Pique from Manchester United retrieved. Pep Guardiola became a coach.

The season was extremely successful. FC Barcelona won the championship, the cup and the Champions League. In the following months they also won the UEFA Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. This made Barcelona the first club to win the sextuple . In Laporta's last season as president, Barcelona were again Spanish champions, setting a new record. During his tenure, the budget increased from 170 to 440.5 million euros, the number of members rose from 106,135 to 173,701.

Criticism of Real Madrid

In June 2009, Laporta caused a stir when he criticized arch rivals Real Madrid for their transfer policy. Real Madrid had spent 150 million euros on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká within a few days and said they were planning further transfers of this magnitude. Laporta described the approach of Real President Florentino Pérez as "imperialist" and sometimes "arrogant". In contrast, the FC Barcelona model is based on “effort, talent and planning ahead”. Barcelona's transfer policy is based on the principles of an economic project and is based on “common sense.” In an interview with The New York Times , he said that in the 2009/10 season there were two opposing concepts: on the one hand, the troops bought with money Real Madrid, on the other hand the FC Barcelona team, which has been built up over the years and equipped with players from its own youth. Regarding Ronaldinho and Messi , he provocatively noted that Barcelona always have the best player in the world in their ranks.

Career in politics

After his second term ended on July 31, 2010, Laporta sought a career as a politician. In the elections on November 28, 2010 , he moved into the Catalan regional parliament as the lead candidate of the Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència group , which campaigned for Catalonia's independence and won 3.3% of the vote and four members of parliament .

However, there were tensions in this group in the run-up to the 2011 local elections . Laporta advocated taking part in these together with the ERC , which other leading politicians of Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència (SI) rejected. It broke and Laporta resigned from the SI and its faction, but retained his mandate in the regional parliament.

Laportas Democràcia Catalana (DCat) then entered into an electoral alliance with the ERC and Laporta himself moved into second place on the list of the joint nomination for the Barcelona City Council .

On October 16, 2012, Laporta announced that he and his Democràcia Catalana party would not run in the Catalan regional elections on November 25, 2012 in order not to contribute to a fragmentation of the Catalan nationalist electorate.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Laporta & Arbós Advocats Associats. In: laadvocats.com. Retrieved April 10, 2020 (English, Catalan, Spanish).
  2. ^ Johannes Rupprecht: Joan Laporta, the "Catalan Kennedy" in portrait. In: goal.com . May 5, 2010, accessed April 10, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c Presidents: Joan Laporta i Estruch (2003-2010). In: FCBarcelona.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010 ; accessed on April 10, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ Paul Ingendaay: Spanish League: Perez split Real, Laporta unite Barca. In: faz.net . August 29, 2003, accessed April 10, 2020 .
  5. ↑ FC Barcelona: high spirits despite high debts. In: faz.net. June 17, 2003, accessed April 10, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Sports: Laporta remains president in Barcelona without an election. In: RP online . August 23, 2006, archived from the original on February 20, 2013 ; accessed on April 10, 2020 .
  7. ^ Anne-Karine Dabo: FC Barcelona-UNICEF alliance kicks off with help for children affected by HIV. In: UNICEF.org. September 7, 2006, accessed April 10, 2020 .
  8. ^ Laporta survives confidence vote. In: FIFA.com. July 6, 2008, archived from the original on July 8, 2008 ; accessed on April 10, 2020 (English).
  9. ^ Joan Laporta: “El Real Madrid de Florentino Pérez es imperialista y prepotente”. In: 20minutos.es . June 13, 2009, accessed April 10, 2020 (Spanish).
  10. ↑ Joshua Robinson: Q. and A. With Joan Laporta - FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta Not Worried by Madrid's Spending - Question. In: NYTimes.com . June 12, 2009, accessed April 10, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Laporta, Joan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Laporta i Estruch, Joan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish lawyer, President of FC Barcelona
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Barcelona