The Super Cup final started and Dani Olmo, Barça’s star signing last summer, started the game on the bench. But, present as he was in Jeddah from the first day, with the precautionary order issued by the Higher Sports Council (CSD) just a few hours before the first semi-final began – late, however, to enter the call for a match that Barça beat Athletic 0-2 on Tuesday—, Hansi Flick did not hesitate. And it allowed him to shine in the final this Sunday. He came on in the 58th minute, with the duel already resolved (1-5, only Rodrygo’s goal was missing for the final 2-5), although just a few minutes after Szczesny’s expulsion, which left the Blaugranas with 10. He was able to pose for the photo, as did Pau Víctor, and do so with the relief of having received a lifeline from the CSD with the signature of the Secretary of State for Sports, its president José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes. A lifeline that arrived in extremis and with the intention that the two Barça players who had been left without a license due to the club’s mismanagement could play in Arabia, as stated in the original CSD letter. A speed that has been criticized on several occasions since then by the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas.
The employers regretted as soon as they heard the news that the resolution had been adopted “without having notified the appeal or having processed allegations to LaLiga or the RFEF.” And he defended those same arguments again on Saturday, before the final: “It is essential to analyze what the general interest is and how the integrity of the competition is protected. Without these essential elements, decisions run the risk of being wrong and generating very negative consequences for the integrity of the competition. Rigor and transparency must always be the basis of any action of this type. Rush is never a good advisor.”
But Rodríguez Uribes had already responded to him in his initial letter, the one that arrived hours before the semifinal against Athletic: if he acted in haste it was to avoid greater damage to Barça and the footballers, given, precisely, that a title was at stake. . The regulatory procedure contemplates that the facts “be made clear to the interested parties so that, within a period of no less than ten days nor more than fifteen, they can formulate the allegations and present the documents and supporting documents that they deem appropriate.” But if that deadline had been respected, neither Olmo nor Víctor would have been able to compete in Jeddah. In fact, the precautionary measure did not arrive in time for them to play the semifinal, as the CSD intended, but they could play the final.
This was explained in the full resolution document, to which Morning Express has had access: “It is necessary to justify the reason that led to the adoption of precautionary measures without granting a hearing to the parties. The evacuation of said procedure would mean the partial loss of effectiveness of said measures, a situation that is in a position to avoid. And this is because, if not adopted, the players would be prevented from participating in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup to be held on January 8, 2025, as well as the final set for January 12 if they qualified. This competition in itself represents an opportunity to promote the players who participate in it due to the circumstances in which it is played. It cannot be ignored that the first official title of the season is at stake with global visibility and impact and in which only the teams that have had the best performance in national competitions in the previous season participate.”
In his resolution, Rodríguez Uribes considered that the decision of the Monitoring Commission of the RFEF – LaLiga Coordination Agreement could be void as he understood that it does not have powers “to grant, or not grant, either the prior visa or the definitive license of the professional soccer players.” He explains in a 20-page report that visas are granted by professional leagues and licenses by federations; and adds that the prior visa operates as a provisional license. But it should not be that monitoring commission that decides on the visa and license, as happened.
This is how Rodrígez Uribes also expressed himself this Saturday in response to Tebas’s words: “We jurists know that Law is made up of rules, principles, values and rights. Also of forms and procedures and, before, of powers. Well, when serious indications of nullity are observed in a decision, the first thing is to avoid damage.”
LaLiga assures that it will appeal the decision of the CSD, which upheld Barcelona’s appeal and granted the precautionary measure, so that Olmo and Víctor once again have a federative license to play football with the Barcelona shirt. You can do so before the Central Contentious-Administrative Courts and have a two-month deadline.
