Barcelona election Q&A: Lionel Messi’s contract and Nou Camp revamp are the key issues

In any other set of circumstances, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu would be forced into early elections this summer, one year ahead of the end of his mandate. 

But the coronavirus pandemic means that despite the current board stumbling from one embarrassing incident to the next, finding time for elections in 2020 looks highly unlikely. 

Here, Sportsmail answer the key questions. Why will Bartomeu will hang on? Who is his continuity candidate for next summer? And who else is lining themselves up to take over one of the biggest clubs in football?

Will there be an election this summer?

There are two reasons why there won’t be. 

First the club needs to spend every working hour on trying to draw up preparations to deal with the imminent financial crisis caused by the coronavirus shutdown. There isn’t the capacity to organise an election. 

Secondly, every candidate circling the top job knows they are better served by letting Bartomeu try to deal with the immediate effects of the crisis before they take over in 2021 with the situation hopefully improved. 

The revelation, made by La Vanguardia, that the club have drawn up two possible road maps through the next 10 months shows how much energy is being taken up dealing with the current crisis. 

And the fact that one scenario means the club can’t open its doors until February 2021 underlines how serious the financial consequences could be.

So Bartomeu hangs on. Who will his continuity candidate be?

It was going to be Emili Rousaud but he has since resigned, insinuated corruption at the club and been threatened with legal action by Bartomeu. So probably not the man for the job anymore. 

Oriol Tomas or Xavier Vilajoana, could be the replacement continuity candidate but neither has much of a profile right now. 

Tomas is the commerical vice-president charged with finding the club new partners to bring money in. His job is more important than ever and could catapult him into the front line. 

His low profile also might not matter if the club goes into those 2021 elections in a good place on the pitch and supporters just want more of the same. That seems unlikely, however. 

The last two home games before the shutdown ended in victory but still with a white handkerchief protest against the board and calls for the president to resign.

Of the other candidates, who is the favourite?

Victor Font was the first to officially confirm he will run. 

He has all the big guns riding with him. Xavi Hernandez seems to be his coach in waiting and that’s why, when the current board sacked Ernesto Valverde, they tried to get Xavi. It’s also why he turned down the job offer. 

Carles Puyol is a possible director of football and if that dream team is not enough to whet the Barca fans’ appetites, Andres Iniesta has also hinted he could be involved at some point although, as he told Sportsmail in an interview last week, he has no immediate plans to cut short his playing career in Japan.

Who will be his biggest rival?

Joan Laporta won two Champions Leagues under two different coaches when he led the club from 2003 to 2010. He has the charisma and the leadership pedigree. 

And he has already sloganised his campaign in brilliant fashion: ‘Barcelona is now the club of the €3billion – €1bn in revenue; €1bn in expenditure, and €1bn in debt,’ he told Gol TV when he announced he was seriously considering running in 2021. 

As of yet there are no big hitters in the background throwing their weight behind Laporta but he will have few problems finding them when the time comes. 

He may also have a big ally in Lionel Messi. He was president when Messi first emerged and oversaw enough of his salary increases to have an excellent relationship with him and his father Jorge.

Who else will stand?

Rousaud could still stand, particularly if he is vindicated by the final report from the private audit into the club’s payments to a social media firm contracted to track the club’s presence online. 

Another of his fellow rebels, Maria Teixidor, is another possibility. When she quit alongside Rousaud she put distance between herself and his corruption accusations and also thanked her friend, Bartomeu, so as not to burn bridges. When asked, she did not rule out standing for the top job. 

Sandro Rosell, who followed Laporta and came before Bartomeu, is also back in the public eye after an in-depth interview with El Mundo Deportivo. He will not stand but he could put his weight behind Jordi Roche, with the former Girona president another considering standing.

And when the election finally does start, what will the key issues be?

The renovation of the Nou Camp and the renewal of Messi’s contract, which will have run down to nothing in 2021. 

Barcelona are going to have to scale-down their planned €700m (£610m) revamp of the stadium. It was meant to be completed next year but even before the current crisis, the price had increased to €800m (£698m) and Bartomeu had agreed to put the plans back to the supporters in a referendum that was subsequently cancelled because of lockdown. 

As of yet there is still no confirmed naming rights partner and with the club anticipating monumental losses from having to close the stadium for up to 10 months, it cannot go ahead as originally planned. 

Messi, meanwhile, will need to be offered what will probably be his final contract at the club. Keeping him is paramount. 

Even approaching 34 in the summer of the elections, he will remain the brightest light the club has to guide them out of the current gloom.