Barcelona confirm it’s Joan Laporta vs Victor Font as presidency race hots up

Barcelona have officially trimmed the presidential field to two, confirming on Thursday that incumbent Joan Laporta and challenger Victor Font will contest the club’s election on 15 March after both cleared the mandatory signature threshold.

Laporta, who is seeking a second consecutive term, delivered 8,170 member endorsements, of which 7,226 were validated by the club’s electoral board. Font, the head of the ‘Sí al Futur’ platform, presented 5,144 signatures and had 4,440 accepted. Each candidate needed a minimum of 2,337 to progress.

The third hopeful, economist Marc Ciria, saw his bid fall short. Despite collecting 2,844 signatures, only 2,247 were deemed valid, leaving him 90 short of the cut-off. Ciria had centred his campaign on promises of €110 million in immediate transfer funds and the return of Lionel Messi.

With Ciria eliminated, Laporta and Font will now intensify their public pitches to the membership. Laporta enters the final stretch as the bookmakers’ favourite, buoyed by his commanding victory in 2021 when he captured 54 per cent of the vote to Font’s 29.99 per cent, with Toni Freixa a distant third on 8.58 per cent.

Balloting will take place on 15 March, bringing a definitive end to a race that has narrowed to a familiar duel between the current president and his long-standing rival.