Barcelona restructure club board after SIX directors resigned to plunge Nou Camp into crisis

Barcelona have announced the restructuring of their club board after the resignations of six directors plunged them into crisis. 

The Catalan giants were thrown into off-field disarray following the mass exodus, with a number of now the former directors confirming they had departed in a strongly-worded statement.

Club president Josep Bartomeu has been forced to reshuffle the figures at boardroom level – and Barcelona will also take legal action against ex-vice-president Emili Rousaud after his sensational allegations.  

Maria Teixidor and Jordi Calsamiglia joined Rousaud, Enrique Tombas, Silvio Elías and Josep Pont, who were already expected to walk away, in agreeing to formally resign together. 

The resignations threatened Bartomeu’s position, having left him with just 12 directors. But the high-profile figures that remain are widely expected to stay loyal to the club, leaving the 57-year-old able to look ahead to his final year in charge. 

A club statement read: ‘The Board of Directors have approved the appointment of Jordi Moix, as Vice President for Economics and Equity; Pau Vilanova, as institutional vice president; Oriol Tomas, as Vice President of the Commercial Area; Marta Plana, as Secretary of the Board of Directors; and David Bellver, as treasurer.

‘Javier Bordas will be the manager responsible for the football first team, while Xavier Vilajoana will be in charge of Barca B, the youth teams and women’s football.

‘The executives responsible for the Compliance Committee will be the Secretary of the Board, Marta Plana, and the treasurer, David Bellver, while Joan Blade in addition to continuing to be responsible for the basketball teams, will be responsible for the Control and Transparency Committee.’

Barcelona also intend to take legal action against Rousaud, after his claim that somebody had been stealing money from the club.

The club issued a statement to refute the claims made by Rousaud, which said: ‘In the face of the serious and unfounded allegations made by Mr. Emili Rousaud FC Barcelona categorically denies any action that could be described as corruption.’

The reigning LaLiga champions have come under pressure after allegations a company called I3 Ventures, who were originally hired to monitor social media coverage of the club, were linked to accounts that produced negative stories about Barcelona players and rivals of Bartomeu. 

Barcelona have strongly denied these allegations, too.