The Superior Sports Council declares the RFEF-LaLiga Commission agreement null and void for lack of competence and disregards the objections of both entities

Full article

The CSD agrees with Barça and validates the licences of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor

The Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) has issued a key ruling that gives FC Barcelona the upper hand in the legal dispute over the registration of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor this season. With this decision, the body presided over by José Manuel Uribes resolves the appeal lodged by the Blaugrana club in January, validating the licences of both players after months of uncertainty.

CSD backs Barça and annuls the contested agreement

The CSD's ruling rejects the arguments put forward by LaLiga and the RFEF, and reaffirms the reasons already given for granting the precautionary measure that allowed the players to play in the Spanish Super Cup. According to the body, the act challenged by Barça - the agreement of the Monitoring Committee of the RFEF-LaLiga Agreement of 4 January - is null and void because it was issued by a ‘manifestly incompetent’ body.

As stated by the CSD, the current regulations do not grant the Commission any competence to grant or deny prior visas or professional licences, functions that fall to other bodies within the framework of the federation and the professional football employers' association.

We find ourselves before the cause of full nullity provided for in article 47.1.b) of the LPAC,’ the resolution points out, “since the agreement was adopted by a body lacking competence in the matter”.

CSD ignores key resolutions of LaLiga and RFEF

Despite the fact that LaLiga and the RFEF communicated to the CSD the resolutions previously issued by their competent bodies - specifically, the LaLiga Competitions Department through the LALIGA Manager system on 4 January - the CSD has chosen not to take them into account. The Monitoring Commission, insist both bodies, was not the one who denied the licences, but rather ratified a technical decision already taken through the usual channels.

FC Barcelona, however, lodged an appeal challenging the Commission's decision, in what LaLiga considers to be a self-interested procedural strategy, known by the CSD itself, but finally endorsed by the public body.

The CSD dissociates itself from LaLiga's economic debate

The Consejo Superior de Deportes itself has stressed that this resolution does not enter into an assessment of the economic control exercised by LaLiga over its clubs. That matter, it explains, corresponds exclusively to the Budget Validation Body and the LaLiga Economic Control Committee.

‘If LaLiga validated an operation on 3 January and subsequently expressed a contrary position, this is an internal discrepancy that must be resolved within the regulatory framework of the entity itself,’ the CSD points out.

In short, the CSD annulled the agreement of the Monitoring Committee due to formal defects and lack of competence, without ruling on the veracity or economic validity of the operation with which Barça justified its registrations.

With this decision, the licences of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor remain in force, which strengthens the position of the Catalan club and obliges LaLiga to abide by the resolution, unless it chooses to take the matter to court.