Barcelona’s 2026 presidential elections will be disputed between two candidates, after the club announced that only Victor Font and Joan Laporta had made the cut. The nomination phase requires pre-candidates to present 2,337 signatures from club members to make it into the final vote, something only Font and Laporta managed.
On Monday, the pre-candidates were required to hand in all of the signatures that they had collected. Following the count, Marc Ciria’s Moviment 42 campaign has fallen short. The other pre-candidates Xavier Vilajoana, William Maddock and Daniel Juan did not present sufficient signatures at that point, but Ciria’s 2,844 signatures were cut after the count. The club could not validate 598 of the signatures they collected, leaving him with just 2,247 – 90 short of the required total.
Laporta and Font to dispute Barcelona presidency
Laporta, who is running for a second consecutive term, led the way with 8,170 signatures, and saw his final total reduced by 944 by invalidations, his total settling at 7,226. Meanwhile Font, his closest challenger, presented 5,144 signatures, of which 704 were ruled invalid, leaving him with 4,440 in total, and a gap of 2,786.
There had been talk of a potential coalition between Ciria, Font and Vilajoana in a bid to put an end to Laporta’s power, but no deal has been reached before the final cut. Much was made of the fact that between them, the trio of opposition had collected more signatures than Laporta. Without knowing how many of Vilajoana’s were invalidated, the total between the three stands at 8,280, more than a thousand over Laporta’s total, although the reality is it would be much closer with Vilajoana’s invalidations.
🚨 The FIFA will do an inspection at the Spotify Camp Nou this week to see the possibility of the stadium hosting World Cup games in 2030. [@culemanias] pic.twitter.com/LEePqTqqKu
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 5, 2026
Repeat of the 2021 run-off
During the 2021 elections, three candidates made it to the final vote, but Toni Freixa did not run on this occasion. Font and Laporta were the two favourites though, and Laporta finished with 30,184 votes (54.28%), with Font at 16,679 votes (29.99%). Freixa trailed behind with 4,769 votes (8.58%). Laporta will again be the favourite to return for a fourth mandate, and has promised continuity with Hansi Flick and Deco. Font on the other hand is arguing for an overhaul of the club’s financial management, and a new sporting director.
