Barça opens the campaign with the resignation of Laporta | Soccer | Sports

Yesterday Barcelona began the electoral process to name its next president. The call, approved by the Board of Directors after the resignation of Joan Laporta, opens a calendar that will last for just over a month and will end on March 15, . In addition to Barcelona, ​​the club will enable four additional voting points in Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and the Principality of Andorra. Voting by mail is not contemplated.

Following Laporta’s resignation, as established by the statutes, the first vice president, Rafa Yuste, will assume the interim presidency of the club until next July 1.

Yuste is a close collaborator and personal friend of Laporta since his time at the Marist school. The relationship between Yuste and Laporta, in any case, transcends the strictly sporting field. Founding partner of AQIPA Iberia, a subsidiary of the Austrian multinational AQIPA GMBH dedicated to consumer electronics, Yuste has also developed a career as a consultant specialized in international trade and has participated alongside Laporta in different business projects. His connection to the deceased Reus Deportiu is added through the company Core Store SL, shared with the former Barça president, the former general director of Barça Joan Oliver and the former economic vice president Xavier Sala i Martín, a company that is currently under investigation both

The elections on March 15 will be the fifteenth for the presidency of Barcelona since 1953, when the first elections were held – then restricted to male members – and the ninth with universal suffrage in the club’s history.

Laporta will attend these elections in search of his third term at the head of Barça, in a race in which Víctor Font, already present in the 2021 elections, also appears as pre-candidates; Xavi Vilajoana, former manager during the Josep Maria Bartomeu era; and Marc Ciria.