“I maintain my principles, but I am open to business opportunities”

taketonews

in one of the more complex moments of the history of barca it was necessary to give explanations and clarify some complex situations. President Joan Laporta gave an interview this Thursday to Esport3 with that goal. The leader has assessed the most controversial issues surrounding the Barça environment these days.

One of those sticking points is the Barça’s relationship with Qatar. It does some days, the Barcelona president carried out a trip to arabic country which raised some suspicions. Laporta, accompanied by the directors Xavier Puig and Joan Soler, both from the sports area, met with Qatari businessmen from Baladi Holding, starting with the president of its board of directors, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Attiyah, who already visited the Camp Nou in the final stretch of the League.

Promote the brand

This week it was ensured that Laporta received a proposal for the creation of a club linked to the Catalan entityparticipating with the name and colors of Barça in the Qatar League, a kind of franchise that could mean the injection of 100 million euros per yearas explained by Catalunya Ràdio this Wednesday.

Laporta denied that specific link, but he did acknowledge contacts with Arab leaders. “He Persian Gulf It has become a place where they are betting a lot on soccer. We are looking for business opportunities for the club. For promote our brand and assets and give them a return”, assured the Barca president, who was also reminded of his words when Barça wore Qatar advertising on the shirt, something that he considered went against the “values ​​and essence of the club”.

female friendly

“I maintain my principlesbut I am open to business opportunities if there are places in the world that are starting a openness movement on equal rights and we can help with football& rdquor ;, explained Laporta on the night of his 61st birthday.

“They still have a lot of work to do. we have been asked friendly with our women’s team. It is a sign that perhaps they are starting a opening movement. We are working on the possibility that they will play there. We have to find dates. It seems good to us, since it would help to improve the situation of this territory,” added Laporta.

Penalty in the Champions League?

The president reviewed multiple current affairs for Barca, including the possible sanction for the Negreira Case. I have had personal meetings with Ceferin. They wanted to take advantage of this case to say that UEFA wanted to veto us in the Champions League. I explained everything to Ceferin and he understood. They cannot condemn us before being judged. We have no news that they won’t let us compete. It would not be fair”, affirmed Laporta.

The leader pointed out that he hopes to reach the 27,000 subscribers in the transfer to Montjuic and justified the cuts in the sections, starting with the basketball. “We can’t keep a basketball budget 40 million in salaries. The contract inherited from mirotic it was unbearable. Saras he was perhaps the highest paid coach in Europe. The entity is above all. We will have a team very competitive with Navarro and Grimau in front”, he added.

Agreement with Telefonica

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Laporta, finally, commented on the traumatic closure of Barça TV. “I have good news. An agreement has been reached with Telefónica. We will not be able to relocate the 80 workers, but yes we have the will to relocate to the maximum possible”, commented the Barcelona president.

“Television it costs us 12 million and we can’t keep that. An agreement will be reached. Nobody wants to have people with labor problems. We are promoting the digital transformation”, concluded Laporta.



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