Notícies Dijous 23.01.2014 14:19

FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell resigns

Rosell and acting-president Bartomeu give short statements at press conference

The executive board of FC Barcelona met this afternoon to decide the fate of Sandro Rosell, Barça's president. He appeared in a press conference this evening, gave a short statement and resigned. Rosell is under fire after news came out of the discrepancies around the transfer fee for Brazilian soccer star, Neymar.

Spanish Court judge Pablo Ruz agreed to hear a suit from a member of FC Barcelona against the president of the club, Sandro Rosell, for misappropiation of funds and specifically questions regarding the amount of the transfer fee upon signing Neymar Da Silva Junior.

In the ruling, Ruz agreed with the Prosecutor and said the documentation presented 'offered enough evidence to warrant investigating the case', in order to clear up any doubts about the Brazilian star's contract and 'the appearance or not of any possible irregularity that might have legal or criminal relevance.' For now, Barça's president Sandro Rosell will not be called to declare in the short term because Ruz doesn't consider it either 'urgent or necessary'.

According to Ruz, a 'simulated contract' may have been produced 'evidenced by the lack of correlation between the cause and the actual purpose of the commitments and economic obligations in the documents and the formal appearance of the signed contracts' between the two parties.

The magistrate wants to clear up some other pending matters before calling Rosell to testify. Therefore, he has asked for documentation about the signing from FIFA, and for a copy of the contract that the player signed with N&N. In addition, he has asked a petitionary committee in Brazil to furnish copies of the player's work contracts and transfer.

Further, Ruz has demanded that the Futbol Club Barcelona provide him with the contracts in the amount of 7.9 million euros, which give the Catalan club the right over three youth players from Santos—Neymar's former team—as well as the 9 million euro contract for the two friendlies that are contracted against the Brazilian team.