FC Barcelona can go to the stock market. And in the US!

Recent news directly from Barcelona brings significant developments in the world of football.

FC Barcelona , an association club that has been undergoing a profound financial restructuring, is set to debut on Nasdaq.

An interesting fact is that all of this became possible because Barça created a digital content exploration companies like Barça Studios, which is now at the epicenter of the club's financial recovery.

We discuss this subject today.

Barcelona's financial crisis

The previous management under José Maria Bartomeu was responsible for the near financial bankruptcy of one of the world's largest football teams.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the club literally "broke."

With the Joan Laporta´s election, the club underwent a deep restructuring process and needed to reinvent itself in the pursuit of new resources.

The club lost Messi as there were no resources to keep him. ,

Barça outlined an ambitious financial project to align with LaLiga's financial regulations and found a solution to the crisis through the sale of asset percentages.

Debt has risen again, now in a structured way for the Spotify Camp Nou renovation.

Asset participation sales

The club orchestrated financial engineering to balance its finances. It sold stakes in TV rights, as well as in Barça Studios and Barça Vision.

Barça Studios handles the club's audiovisual production, while Barça Vision is the club's digital platform, encompassing everything related to Web3, NFTs, and tokens.

The Sports Business Institute Barcelona presented an interesting graph of how the club raised funds over time.

SPAC and Nasdaq debut

Barcelona's legal structure doesn't allow the club to go public on the stock market as Manchester United Juventus Football Club Borussia Dortmund AFC Ajax have done.

However, the current market offers numerous alternatives, even for association clubs.

A SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) was created, with powerful partners, whose main business will be Barça's content, a team with over 440 million fans worldwide.

SPACs have gained popularity as an alternative route for companies to go public, offering a faster and potentially more flexible process compared to traditional IPOs.

The SPAC, named Mountain & Co, is valued at over US$ 1 billion, even before the IPO.

Here, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo delves deeply into the topic. (In Spanish)

An uptade

According to spanish 2Playbook Barça is waiting for €40 million, from the German firm Libero Football.

Here more about this.(In Spanish)