Josep Maria Bartomeu will be the President of FC Barcelona for the next six years after a clear victory in today’s elections. The feel-good factor created by the Treble and the deadly ‘Tridente’ of Leo Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez helped to hold back Joan Laporta’s revolution, which ultimately lacked a clear blueprint. The former President won 10,200 votes and wouldn’t have been able to catch Bartomeu even factoring in the 3,386 votes for Agustí Benedito and the 1,750 votes for Toni Freixa.
Barcelona’s members have opted for the continuity that Bartomeu represents, though there is nothing to suggest that the well-known and clearly established divisions between the club’s members have been overcome.
It’s precisely this issue that will be the new President’s biggest challenge, whose position is now undisputed. This will prove to be more difficult than solving the prickly issue of Qatari sponsorship, keeping the club on the margins of the sovereignty debate that continues to rage on or even rejuvenating a squad that will be old in six years time. Above all, Bartomeu’s greatest challenge is to maintain peace within the club.
Bartomeu was the undisputed winner of today’s election, which saw a turnout of 43%. The members went to the polls with everything in his favour: a Treble, an excellent squad, two high-profile signings in the run-up to the election and strong support from supporters’ groups and older members.
Yet many members opposed him, weary and feeling let down by the way the administration has run the club over the last five years. Success on the pitch has been paired off it with torturous and seemingly endless legal court proceedings.
This is Bartomeu’s big opportunity. It is a chance for a key period in the club’s history to be characterised not by infighting but by reconciliation. He will run a club in great health on the pitch but also one continuously haunted by the threat of internal schism.