Joan Laporta has again been re-elected as president of the Catalonian sides, Barcelona FC.
The decision was made on Sunday with about 58 per cent of the vote, putting him charge of an organisation in dire need of positive leadership after his predecessor resigned in October and the pandemic strained club finances.
It’s Laporta’s second time in charge of the Blaugrana; he last served in 2010, when a 22-year-old Lionel Messi was entering the stratosphere of global influence. Laporta used his background with Messi to convince voters his deep ties to the Argentinian star could help him prevent a summer transfer exit.
Much has changed since Laporta’s last term, but he claims he knows the correct strategy to return Barcelona to the relative stability they enjoyed a decade ago.
Once again, the members have democratically elected their president, with a turnout of 50.42% of the electoral roll. A total of 55,611 members have exercised their right to vote and by a large majority they have chosen Joan Laporta with a total of 30,184 votes. Before the start of election day, 20,663 members had already exercised their right to vote by mail, which for the first time was incorporated in elections to the presidency, and 87,479 members could vote in person in any of the the six territorial headquarters.
Laporta was the only candidate who had previously been president of FC Barcelona, between 2003 and 2010, and now 11 years after leaving the job he will once again lead the Club. Joan Laporta was the clear favourite with 9,625 signatures ahead of Víctor Font with 4.431 and Antoni Freixa with 2,634 and the presidential vote has reflected those figures. The winning candidate came out on top thanks to his personal charisma and his experience. It is the fourth time that a president has taken charge at the Club in different mandates following the precedents set by Joan Gamper (1908, 1910, 1917, 1921 and 1924), Gaspar Rosés i Arús (1917, 1920, 1930) and Enric Piñeyro i Queralt (1940, 1942).
