Despite its expensive summer recruits, has Barça become a “little” of Europe? The question lends a smile, but is not unfounded after this inglorious exit from FC Barcelona, after Inter’s victory in the advanced match of this penultimate day of the Champions League, the second elimination for coach Xavi .
At the top of the continent ten years ago, with its famous “tiki-taka” orchestrated by Pep Guardiola (2008-2012) and executed to perfection by Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi himself, the Catalan club finds itself forced to compete again in the less lucrative and less prestigious Europa League.
Top 5 richest clubs
However, FC Barcelona is still one of the top 5 richest clubs in the world. According to the Football Money League study published each year by Deloitte, Barça generated 582 M EUR in revenue in 2020-2021, more than European leaders such as Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool or Chelsea.
Its stadium, the Camp Nou, is still the largest in Europe (99,000 seats), and is about to receive a welcome facelift. Its training center, La Masia, is still among the best in the world, and each year allows the emergence of some of the best talents in the world, such as Pedri or Gavi, the last two winners of the Kopa Trophy, rewarding the best hope during the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Along with Real Madrid, Barça is the most followed club on the planet on social networks, and has around 260 million followers (compared to around 280 million for Real).
admission of failure
But here it is: on the ground, not everything goes as planned. Despite the many economic levers activated, the colossal sponsorship contract signed with Spotify, all the shares of mortgaged assets, the 143 M EUR spent and the seven players recruited during the transfer window this summer, the Catalans are eliminated from the Champions League as soon as autumn for the second season in a row, overtaken in their group by Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
This had not happened since the 1998-1999 season, 24 years.
A terrible admission of failure vis-à-vis Real Madrid, reigning European champion and eternal rival of the Spanish capital, who corrected Barça 3-1 in the clasico at the Bernabéu on October 16.
What to fear the worst for the rest of the Barça season, after the break for the World Cup in Qatar (November 20-December 18).
20 M EUR losses
Beyond the moral aspect, this premature elimination has a cost. On October 9, during the ordinary general meeting of Barça, the leaders presented a record provisional budget of 1.255 billion euros … assuming that their team would reach at least the stage of the quarter-finals of the Champions League .
By falling from the group stage, Barça therefore misses the merit bonuses paid by UEFA: 9.6 M EUR for qualification for the round of 16 and 10.6 M EUR for qualification for the quarters.
That is, in total, a shortfall of at least EUR 20.2 million… which cannot be made up for even in the event of a victory in the Europa League (the entirety of their journey until a possible victory would bring them 14 EUR .4 million).
Would a coronation in the Europa League restore the tarnished image of FC Barcelona? Hard to believe. Barça is certainly one of the instigators of the Super League, but still holds its place in the Champions League …