La Liga and RFEF reject Olmo registration as uncertainty continues between Barcelona and the league’s governing body.
La Liga and RFEF jointly denied Olmo and his teammate Pau Víctor’s registrations, but the language of their decision might allow the Catalan club to contest the regulation that forbids them from having the two players in their roster.
In August, Olmo, 26, moved from RB Leipzig to Barcelona for an estimated €60 million (£51 million). However, they were only able to sign the attacking player for the first few games of the season due to issues with La Liga’s pay regulations.
Barcelona are likely to take their case to Spain’s sports council as they continue to challenge the decision.
Although Olmo and Victor were registered to play until December 31st, the club was unable to acquire their registrations after that date. The decision on Saturday is a further setback to Barcelona’s ambitions of retaining both players after they lost a second appeal on Monday to register them for the rest of the season.
Barcelona may be able to achieve the financial requirements to sign Olmo and Victor before the transfer market closes in February, even though they have been free agents since January 1. A player cannot be signed by the same club twice in a single season, according to the RFEF rules. However, Saturday’s reference to a “literal interpretation” of these rules raises the possibility that there may be some leeway.
A statement published by the RFEF read: “The monitoring committee of the RFEF-La Liga coordination agreement has met to address the request for prior visa and processing of the federation licences of the players Mr Daniel Olmo Carvajal and Mr Pau Víctor Delgado, issued by FC Barcelona.
“After FCB complied with the requirements in terms of economic control of La Liga on 3 January 2025, and once the relevant documentation has been completed by the club, the La Liga budget validation body has decided to extend the cost limit of FC Barcelona’s sports squad from that date.
“In this sense, having requested the licences for the aforementioned players by FC Barcelona and after analysing the applicable regulations, the monitoring committee agrees not to grant the prior visa or the definitive licence requested by FC Barcelona for the players.”
The statement added that the decision was “in accordance with the literal interpretation of articles 130.2 and 141.5 of the RFEF general regulations that prevent a player whose licence is cancelled from being able, in the course of the same season, to obtain a licence at the same club to which he was already linked”.