BARCELONA, Spain: Crippled by debt and fielding a team that were no longer among Europe’s elite, Barcelona’s leadership decided there was only one alternative after watching Real Madrid sweep up the major trophies last season.
They chose to double down and spend, spend, spend.
Barcelona will enter the season with immediate hopes of winning after adding striker Robert Lewandowski, defender Jules Koundé and winger Raphinha to an uneven squad composed of promising youngsters and several unwanted players.
But the three signings for more than a combined 160 million euros ($163 million) — making it Europe’s leading spender of the offseason — have come at an even larger cost that will burden the club for the next quarter century.
With Barcelona about to close last season with a financial loss for the fourth straight year and no money to spend on transfers, club president Joan Laporta took the gamble that the only way to save the team and stave off their seemingly unstoppable slide into mediocrity was to mortgage their future.
After receiving the approval of Barcelona’s club members, Laporta’s board sold off 25 percent of its Spanish league TV rights for the next 25 years for 667 million euros ($679 million). The club quickly used that cash to make its splash in the transfer market.
“It’s true that I would have preferred not to have had to sell a percentage of the TV rights,” Laporta said this week from New York, where Barcelona completed their preseason tour of the United States. “But the situation was complicated and required us to be brave and take decisions, because soccer does not wait for anyone and our fans, who are used to winning, deserve a Barça that can compete.”
The Catalan club’s shopping spree may not be over. They sold a 25 percent stake of their Barça Studios production hub for another 100 million euros ($102 million) on Monday.
The club have pledged a third of that much-needed income to new players, a third to savings, and a third to paying off debt that despite efforts to bring it down still stands at 1 billion euros ($1 billion).
The sacrifice of future revenue comes after Barcelona sold the naming rights of Camp Nou. Europe’s largest soccer stadium will bear the name of audio-streaming service Spotify, as will Barcelona’s shirts at the season opener against Rayo Vallecano on Aug. 13.
Laporta, who inherited a debt-ridden club when he returned to power last year, has also remained a firm backer of Madrid president Florentino Pérez’s scheme to establish a Super League.
But not even the Spotify deal and shedding the salaries of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann for practically nothing in return in recent years proved enough to balance the books.
The mismanagement by previous president Josep Bartomeu, combined with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, left the club saddled with a massive debt of more than 1.3 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and the largest payroll in soccer.
Barcelona’s financial difficulties have, predictably, been accompanied by their team’s fall from grace.
Barcelona haven’t won the league title in three seasons, after having won eight of the previous 11. The team haven’t lifted the European Cup since 2015, when it won the Champions League for the fourth time in a decade. They won nothing last season after Messi left for Paris Saint-Germain.
All told, the once mighty Barcelona have become known for their economic mess, scandals involving Bartomeu despite his denials of wrongdoing, their inability to retain Messi, as well as humiliating defeats, including a historic 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich.
For Laporta’s critics, it was fitting that Barcelona announced the sale of their second package of TV rights while the team were training in Las Vegas ahead of its friendly “clásico” against Madrid, which Barcelona won 1-0. For some, like former England player Gary Neville, auctioning off TV rights smacked of going for broke.
“Barcelona still pursuing the Super League? This is why! A desperate club (1.2 billion pounds) in debt selling future revenue streams to spend on players today in the ‘Hope’ it pays off! Rolling the dice stuff this with a giant of a club,” Neville wrote on Twitter.
Laporta argues that he had no choice: The alternative was only more losing, fewer fans and dwindling income.
Pressing home the need for the unprecedented measures in June, Laporta told fellow club members that when he took charge after winning club elections in March 2021 the team was nearly bankrupt.
“We couldn’t meet the payroll. We were clinically dead. We restructured the debt, reduced spending and slashed the player payroll substantially, but it still was not enough,” Laporta said. “By finding new revenues and sponsors we went from being dead to the intensive care unit, and now we can finally get back to living a normal life (after selling the TV rights).”
Still, even in the most favorable analysis, the decision is painful.
“From a financial point of view, it is never good news when you sell assets,” economist Marc Ciria, who in 2015 formed part of an unsuccessful presidential run by Laporta but now has no connection to the executive, told The Associated Press.
“Barcelona have spent (nearly) 125 years acquiring patrimony, and TV rights are one of the few assets that is guaranteed to increase in value. But it is also clear that Barcelona, for its status, cannot afford to have another season like the last one.”
Ciria calculates that, not even including inflation, Barcelona have sacrificed at least 1 billion euros ($1 billion), starting with 41 million euros ($42 million) this season, in future TV revenues in exchange of 670 million euros ($684 million) now.
But, for Ciria, the greatest threat to the sustainability of Barcelona is the bloated player salaries. He calculates that just to break even this season the club would need to reduce its salary load to 450 million euros ($457 million). It stood at 518 million euros ($526 million) before the latest signings, which also include free agents Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen.
Barcelona is also under pressure to reduce their salary load so it can meet the Spanish league’s financial rules and be able to register their new players so they can play games.
Dani Alves, Adama Traoré and Luuk de Jong have all left after finishing their deals, but of its players under contract it has an agreement to transfer Óscar Mingueza to Celta Vigo and has loaned out Clement Lenglet and Francisco Trincão.
Barcelona want Frenkie de Jong to accept a transfer to Manchester United or take a pay cut. Martin Braithwaite, Samuel Umtiti, and Riqui Puig were all left off Barcelona’s squad for the trip to the United States and the club want them gone.
Last season, Barcelona flopped out of the Champions League’s group phase for the first time in two decades. They finished a distant second in Spain to Madrid, which also won the European Cup to only increase the frustration of Barcelona supporters.
The additions of a world-class scorer in Lewandowski, a top young center back in Koundé and the flare of Raphinha should provide coach Xavi Hernández with what he needs to improve a squad featuring Spain midfielders Pedri González (19 years old) and Gavi Páez (17).
But one year after Messi’s wife handed him a tissue as he wept while saying farewell to the club he helped make great, Barcelona are at a crossroads where it appears the only two ways forward are renewal or decline.
Barcelona mortgages its future on quick resurrection
https://arab.news/6g5bc
Barcelona mortgages its future on quick resurrection
- Laporta's board sold off 25% of their Spanish league TV rights for the next 25 years for $679 million
- They sold a 25% stake of their Barça Studios production hub for another $102 million on Monday
Jeeno Thitikul extends lead to three at Women’s PGA
- The 22-year-old star from Thailand followed a first-round 68 with a 2-under par 70 on Friday to reach 6-under 138 at the Fields Ranch East course
- Thitikul has five wins to her credit on the LPGA Tour and placed in the top 10 of seven majors
FRISCO, Texas: World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul is halfway home to her first major victory, as she will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas.
The 22-year-old star from Thailand followed a first-round 68 with a 2-under par 70 on Friday to reach 6-under 138 at the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco.
She has a comfortable edge over Australia’s Minjee Lee, who shot even-par 72, and Japan’s Rio Takeda, who birdied her final hole (No. 9) and four of her last six for a 71.
Lexi Thompson also posted a 70 in the second round and holds fourth place at 2 under.
The course played even tougher than the day before, and only one player managed to break 70. England’s Charley Hull posted a 3-under 69 to move to 3 over and ensure she’ll make the cut after an opening-round 78 set her back.
Thitikul entered the day with a one-shot lead and spent most of her round hovering around even par. After beginning on the back nine, she had two birdies and two bogeys through 16 holes before a birdie-birdie finish. Thitikul made a 12 1/2-foot putt at the par-3 eighth before two-putting from 59 feet at the par-5 ninth.
Thitikul has five wins to her credit on the LPGA Tour and placed in the top 10 of seven majors. Now she will get to play from ahead and defend her lead in a high-pressure situation.
“I think it’s depend on the wind,” Thitikul said of the weekend to come. “If you can be committing with the wind you see and then calculating really good and putting yourself like tee-to-green really well and then making par, I think it’s good enough.”
Thompson had a bogey-free round nearly in the bag before stumbling at No. 18 when her approach found a bunker.
Thompson, 30, stopped competing full-time after 2024, but she is making her seventh start of 2025 and is in great form, having tied for fourth last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic.
“When I’m home I’m grinding and practicing and still working on my game,” Thompson said. “Any time I tee it up — even saying I was stepping away from a full-time schedule, any time I tee it up I want to come out here and compete and win.”
A win this weekend would give Thompson her second career major title, 11 years after her first.
The only American in red figures besides Thompson is Auston Kim, who shot 72 Friday and is tied for fifth at 1 under with South Korea’s Somi Lee (73) and Japan’s Chizato Iwai (72).
Kim would be a major upset story if she were to win on Sunday. She is ranked No. 98 in the world, has never won on tour and never finished better than tied for 30th at a major.
“My mindset today was just staying in it,” Kim said of her two-birdie, two-bogey round. “I didn’t really feel like I had hit any superhuman shots. I didn’t want to. I didn’t have to chop it out of the rough today like I did (Thursday). I think that’s just a testament to how smart I was playing.”
World No. 1 Nelly Korda turned in a 2-over 74 to slide to 2 over for the tournament, tied for 16th.
The projected cut line was 7 over par, meaning Rose Zhang (79 Friday) will squeak in on the number. Notable names to miss the cut included Allizen Corpuz (8 over), South Korea’s A Lim Kim (8 over), defending champion Amy Yang of South Korea (9 over) and two-time major winner Lilia Vu (9 over).
Former World No. 1 Jin Young Ko of South Korea withdrew due to illness. She was on track to miss the cut after an opening-round 74.
Scheffler in 3-way tie for lead at Travelers with Fleetwood and Thomas
- All it took was the fate of the wind, good or bad, to shape the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands, with 12 players separated by four shots
- The average score was 70.7, nearly two shots harder than the opening round
CROMWELL, Connecticut: Scottie Scheffler provided hope with a late double bogey. Tommy Fleetwood charged through with two eagles in three holes, and so did Justin Thomas with five straight birdies. They wound up tied for the lead on a blustery Friday at the Travelers Championship.
All it took was the fate of the wind, good or bad, to shape the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands, with 12 players separated by four shots.
Scheffler was comfortably in front when the left-to-right wind his tee shot had been riding laid down, sending his ball into the fairway bunker on the par-4 17th. He put the next one in the water, barely reached the green with his fourth shot and made double bogey. He wound up with a 1-under 69.
Fleetwood felt the wind going right-to-left, then slightly hurting, then slightly helping on the par-5 13th. He had 240 yards to at least cover the water, 264 yards to the hole, and he felt his 9-wood would at least reach the green.
So much depended on the fickle wind that fooled so many players.
“I just sort of caught the right moment,” said Fleetwood, who also chipped in for eagle on the reachable 15th and shot 65. “Came off perfect and then beautiful putt.”
Thomas wished he could have hit the ball a little better off the tee, but he stayed out of trouble, stayed patient and cashed in on the back nine with his five straight birdies, two of them from the 25-foot range, that led to a 64.
They were at 9-under 131, one shot ahead of Jason Day (66).
Rory McIlroy was 3 over through four holes in gusts that topped 30 mph, at one point falling eight shots behind Scheffler, a daunting prospect. But he kept in the game, found hope when Scheffler dropped back to 9 under, and got a little luck on his own.
His second shot from a bunker on the 17th was so think that he took one hand off the club and waited for the worse, mainly a splash. It founded the water at such a low trajectory that it skipped out onto the fairway.
He failed to get up-and-down, taking bogey, but felt it could have been worse — the shot, and his position going into the weekend He batted for a 71, leaving him only four back.
“The conditions today definitely bunched the entire field together and should make for an exciting weekend,” McIlroy said
The conditions — mainly the wind strong that was blowing hats off of heads and sending unoccupied chairs tumbling away — was everything in the second round.
The average score was 70.7, nearly two shots harder than the opening round. It was the highest scoring average for a single round at the Travelers since the second round in 2017.
The toughest part for players was figuring out which way it was blowing. Scheffler experienced that on the 17th.
“The tee shot, I hit exactly the way I wanted to,” Scheffler said. “Somehow the wind either stops or goes back because the way my ball was flying it should have basically gotten to the middle of the fairway and I end up in the left bunker.
“Then I catch it a hair fat, and all of a sudden I’m dropping and hitting my fourth shot, and I hit the shot exactly the way we wanted to, and as the ball is flying, you get a gust into the wind, and all of a sudden the ball is not on the green,” he said. “You can’t get every one correct. You just do your best to manage your way around the golf course.”
Day had his own version of a hat trick on the front nine — three pars, three birdies, three bogeys — until hitting all the right shots for a 31 on the back to get in the hunt.
Denny McCarthy (64) and Austin Eckroat (71) were at 7-under 133, followed by Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley 70) and Nick Taylor (68).
Patrick Cantlay had a 68 with a double bogey on the par-5 13th and joined the large group at 135 that included McIlroy.
If the wind wasn’t bad enough, Luke Clanton showed remarkable patience in his second tournament as a pro. He had been playing with Jordan Spieth, who had to withdraw with soreness in his upper back on Thursday. Clanton was a single in the middle of the field, behind Scheffler and US Open champion J.J. Spaun, in front of Andrew Novak and Jacob Bridgeman.
He waited on every shot and did well to post a 72, leaving him in the middle of the pack.
Alcaraz extends winning streak, Draper into semifinals at Queen’s
- Alcaraz, who won the Wimbledon warm-up event in 2023, will face Spanish compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in Saturday’s semifinals
- The 23-year-old had twice lost in the last eight at Queen’s, but now he is just two wins away from joining Andy Murray as only the second British champion at the tournament in the Open area
LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz was relieved to overcome the challenge of Arthur Rinderknech in straight sets to reach the semifinals at Queen’s Club and extend his career-best winning streak to 16 matches on Friday.
In his first tournament since winning the French Open in remarkable fashion against Jannik Sinner, the world No. 2 had been forced to come through a grueling three-set battle against Jaume Munar in Thursday’s second round.
But Alcaraz was ruthless with his opportunities against world No. 80 Rinderknech as the Spaniard took his only two break point chances for a 7-5, 6-4 win inside 90 minutes on court.
“I thought I was going to feel much worse, but we are tennis players, we have to do whatever we have to do to feel good,” said Alcaraz after his three-and-a-half-hour battle against Munar.
“I’m glad that today was one hour and 20 minutes, a bit more like grass.”
Alcaraz, who won the Wimbledon warm-up event in 2023, will face Spanish compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in Saturday’s semifinals after he beat fourth seed Holger Rune 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2.
“I’m feeling great, and I’m just happy to play at such a good level today. It was a big challenge today, but I’m happy with the way I played and felt today,” added Alcaraz.
Jack Draper, who ended Alcaraz’s defense at Queen’s last year, reached the semifinals for the first time and secured a top-four seed at Wimbledon with a tense 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over American Brandon Nakashima.
The 23-year-old had twice lost in the last eight at Queen’s, but now he is just two wins away from joining Andy Murray as only the second British champion at the tournament in the Open area.
Draper will move above Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz in the world rankings next week to a career-high of four.
That means at Wimbledon, which starts on June 30, Draper will avoid defending champion Alcaraz and world No. 1 Sinner until the semifinals.
“Last year I went there ranked 40th and now I’m fourth. To get to that position is an incredible feeling,” Draper said.
“It is testament to the work me and my team have done and I’m proud of that.”
Draper will face Jiri Lehecka in the last four on Saturday after the Czech world No. 30 beat beat British No. 2 Jacob Fearnley 7-5, 6-2.
Promotional tour for Alvarez and Crawford’s ‘Fight of the Century’ gets underway in Riyadh
- The boxers will face off in Las Vegas in September for the unified super-middleweight title and a specially crafted Ring Magazine belt worth $188,000
RIYADH: Boxing superstars Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford shared the stage in Riyadh on Friday at the start of a promotional tour ahead of their highly anticipated bout in Las Vegas on Sept. 13.
The two champions, who will face off for the unified super-middleweight title and a specially crafted Ring Magazine belt valued at $188,000, appeared at a press conference in Boulevard City as part of Riyadh Season.
“My goal is always being in these kinds of fights: big fights,” Alvarez, the reigning undisputed champion with a record of 62 wins, 39 of them by knockout, told Arab News. “And I’m here again. So I feel grateful and excited.”
He added that the sport has developed and progressed in the Kingdom in recent years, adding: “Turki Alalshikh (chairperson of the General Entertainment Authority) has helped a lot. Right now we have boxing gyms here and they’re helping a lot of kids. So that’s very nice.”
Looking ahead to his showdown with Crawford, the Mexican fighter said: “I think this fight is going to be one of my best fights in my history, in my record. I’m very excited and motivated. This is what it’s all about. I want to make history.”
Asked for his thoughts on his opponent, Alvarez said: “Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great fighter — but like I said, he’s not Canelo. He’s one of the top fighters I’m going to face in my career, for sure.”
Crawford, an American fighter who holds a record of 41 wins, with 31 knockouts, and is a four-division world champion, said: “This is my moment and I’m not letting Canelo take it away from me. It’s going to be an exciting day for boxing; history will be made.”
Alalshikh said the fight marks the beginning of a long-term partnership with Netflix, which will stream the bout to more than 300 million subscribers worldwide.
“We will do big things together and this is the beginning of a great relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the GEA and Netflix,” he added.
Asked what he hopes to see from the fighters during their bout, Alalshikh said: “I’m sure they will deliver for me smashing face and blood.”
As for the decision to stage the fight in Las Vegas, he described the city as “the capital of boxing.”
The promotional tour will continue in New York City on June 22 and Las Vegas on June 27.
Benfica knock out Auckland in Club World Cup romp
- With the Portuguese side leading by a goal at half-time the match was suspended because of a storm
- Despite their eventual collapse, Auckland battled hard in the first half
ORLANDO: Benfica romped to a 6-0 win over Auckland City on Friday in a Club World Cup match in Orlando which suffered a long weather delay, with Angel Di Maria netting two penalties.
With the Portuguese side leading by a goal at half-time the match was suspended because of a storm, eventually resuming two hours later.
Auckland of New Zealand, the only Oceania Football Confederation representatives at the tournament, were thrashed 10-0 by Bayern Munich in their Group C opener and this defeat means they are eliminated.
Despite their eventual collapse, Auckland battled hard in the first half and almost made it to the break unscathed.
Auckland goalkeeper Nathan Garrow made several good saves to keep Benfica at bay and the Portuguese side grew frustrated.
Benfica took the lead deep into first half stoppage time when Gianluca Prestianni was clumsily felled in the area by Haris Zeb.
Di Maria, who converted a spot-kick in the opening 2-2 draw against Boca Juniors, sent Garrow the wrong way.
At half-time the match became the fourth in the last four days at the tournament to be impacted by a suspension for adverse conditions, with a storm arriving at the Inter&CO Stadium.
When play eventually resumed, Benfica came back out strongly.
Vangelis Pavlidis bundled his way through and smashed home to double Bruno Lage’s team’s lead in the 53rd minute, with Renato Sanches netting the third 10 minutes later from outside the box with a deflected effort.
Luxembourg midfielder Leandro Barreiro bagged a brace to expand Benfica’s lead, tucking home at the back post from Pavlidis’ cross for the fourth before netting from close range.
Nikko Boxall brought down Di Maria in stoppage time and the Argentine World Cup winner beat Garrow from the spot again to wrap up Benfica’s emphatic triumph.
Later Friday German giants Bayern Munich take on Argentine outfit Boca Juniors in the other Group C match.
