Joan Laporta
Encyclopedia
Joan Laporta i Estruch is a Spanish
politician and former president of Futbol Club Barcelona
between 2003 and 2010.
Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona
) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has important firms as clients. Laporta was married to Constanza Echevarría and has three sons, Pol, Guillem and Jan. He is currently serving as MP in the Parliament of Catalonia
.
leading the "Elefant Blau" (Blue Elephant), a group which opposed former president Josep Lluís Nuñez
and which, in 1998, tried, unsuccessfully, a vote of no confidence
against him.
In the 2003 elections, Laporta did not start as the favourite, but his charisma grew during the electoral campaign and he finally won against the expected victor, publicist
Lluís Bassat, in part because of a widely published (and ultimately unfulfilled) promise to bring David Beckham
to Barcelona. Laporta had the support of other young businessmen of Barcelona, such as Sandro Rosell
. Laporta quickly became a media star, even more than some of the players.
's success in the early 2000s, having not won trophies since 1999.
(his solution signing after Beckham
's decision to turn down the club) as well as new manager Frank Rijkaard
among others, the club was forced to embark on a new phase, having elected a new, young and largely untested managerial board along with him. Laporta also decided to fight against the threat of violence outside the Camp Nou
stadium, specially from the Boixos Nois (Mad Boys) gang, and faced insults and death threats from them. Police investigation revealed they had planned to kidnap him. To exacerbate the situation, the 2003/04 season began abysmally results-wise, with Laporta constantly having to call for the fans' understanding and patience with him and Rijkaard as the club slowly phased out underachieving players from the old guard in order to rebuild a new-look side around Ronaldinho.
Laporta also had to spur his board to foster creative business ideas to raise revenue, and in recent years, that new style of management eventually succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the club with the team spectacularly returning to form and finishing second after being at the bottom of the table in 2003/2004, and then finally managing to win La Liga
titles both in 2004/05 and in 2005/2006. During this period, the inherited massive financial debt started to be cut down, and only two players remained from the original team that did not win a major title in six years, with players like Deco
, Eto'o
and Edmílson as the new starlets, around Ronaldinho
and a core of home-grown players like Carles Puyol
, Xavi
, Víctor Valdés
and Oleguer Presas. The club finally won the UEFA Champions League
on May 17, 2006, for only their second time in history, as well as that year's league trophy.
. They accused him of having changed for the worse as a person, having adopted authoritarian traits and harbouring ambitions of power.
In October 2005, he faced a scandal, when his brother-in-law and member of the board of directors in charge of security, Alejandro Echevarría, was revealed to be a member of the Francisco Franco
Foundation. After several denials by Echevarría and Laporta, contested by documents shown by a former member of the board of directors, Laporta was finally forced to accept Echevarría's resignation. Echevarría continued, however, to be close to the club and he organized the security during the celebrations of the 2005-2006 Liga
championship.
Laporta's own political history added to the complications surrounding the Echevarría scandal, as his politics are diametrically opposed to those implied by Echevarría's membership of the Francisco Franco Foundation. Laporta is a self-described Catalan nationalist and has been identified on several occasions as supporting the independence of Catalonia from Spain. In the early 1990s, he and fellow Catalan politicians Pilar Rahola
and Ángel Colom founded the now-defunct "Partit per la independencia", which supported Catalan separatism. He was also an active participant at the controversial Frankfurt Book Fair
of 2007, at which Catalan language and culture were the special featured invitees, but not including other Catalonia-based authors who wrote in other languages, such as Spanish. At the fair, Laporta stated that he "hopes that FC Barcelona continues to be a tool to promote the Catalan language and culture" and to the contrary, he would feel obligated "to create the Catalan Republic of Barcelona".
Laporta has been accused of mixing the club with his own political agenda.
.
The elections were to be held on September 3, 2006, but they turned out not to be necessary. On August 22, Barcelona confirmed Joan Laporta's presidency for another four years after no other would-be candidate received the 1,804 signatures required to stand.
Following the results, it was speculated that Laporta would resign due to pressure from fellow directors. This would have resulted in then vice-President Albert Vicens taking over from Laporta with Ferran Soriano replacing Vicens as the main vice-president. However these rumours were quickly dismissed by Laporta. On 10 July 2008, eight of the seventeen board members – vice-presidents Albert Vicens, Ferran Soriano and Marc Ingla, and directors Evarist Murtra, Toni Rovira, Xavier Cambra, Clàudia Vives-Fierro and Josep Lluís Vilaseca – resigned following Laporta's confirmation that he will stay as President of the club despite the opinion of the members. In a press statement, they revealed that they resigned due to "discrepancies in the way to act after the result of the motion."
, the team captain at the end of the Dream Team era. Guardiola's only experience as a coach was with the B team the previous season (which won promotion from the 4th tier to the 3rd). Although the team started poorly, losing the first match to Numancia and drawing the second, Barcelona had the best season in its history, winning the treble of the League, the Cup, and the Champions League. The Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup followed in August, and the FIFA Club World Cup in December.
, formed by Pilar Rahola
and Àngel Colom, former members of the Republican Left of Catalonia.
Laporta has long held ambitions to enter Spanish politics
after leaving office as president of FC Barcelona. He has in the past been outspoken about his political affiliations: he supports Catalan independence from Spain
. FC Barcelona
is seen by many as a symbol of Catalonia
, a generally accepted fact which Laporta often emphasizes but has been criticized by non-Catalan fans of the team.
Following the end of his second term as president, Laporta formed the independence-seeking political party Democràcia Catalana (Catalan Democracy). In the summer of 2010, Laporta's party merged with other extra-parliamentary pro-independence parties and grassroots movements into a political platform called Catalan Solidarity for Independence. laporta was elected its president.
In the Catalan elections of 28th November 2010
, the new party managed to achieve 4 seats in the 135-member Catalan Parliament, making it the sixth largest party out of seven. Laporta was elected in the circumscription of Barcelona.
In 2011, Laporta stepped down as president of the Catalan Solidarity for Independence and left the party.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
politician and former president of Futbol Club Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
between 2003 and 2010.
Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona
University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...
) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has important firms as clients. Laporta was married to Constanza Echevarría and has three sons, Pol, Guillem and Jan. He is currently serving as MP in the Parliament of Catalonia
Parliament of Catalonia
The Parliament of Catalonia is the unicameral legislature of Catalonia. It is formed by 135 members , who are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of Catalonia, by universal suffrage in proportional lists with four...
.
Career at Barcelona
He started his involvement with BarcelonaFC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
leading the "Elefant Blau" (Blue Elephant), a group which opposed former president Josep Lluís Nuñez
Josep Lluís Nuñez
Josep Lluís Núñez i Clemente was president of FC Barcelona between 1978 and 2000. Núñez also owns the Núñez i Navarro construction company and Núñez i Navarro Hotels chain. He was elected club president on 1 July 1978 despite having no previous connection with the club...
and which, in 1998, tried, unsuccessfully, a vote of no confidence
Motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
against him.
In the 2003 elections, Laporta did not start as the favourite, but his charisma grew during the electoral campaign and he finally won against the expected victor, publicist
Publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...
Lluís Bassat, in part because of a widely published (and ultimately unfulfilled) promise to bring David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
to Barcelona. Laporta had the support of other young businessmen of Barcelona, such as Sandro Rosell
Sandro Rosell
Alexandre Rosell i Feliu , commonly known as Sandro Rosell, is the current president of FC Barcelona. With an MBA degree from ESADE, Rosell is known for being the running mate and senior adviser of Joan Laporta during the presidential elections at FC Barcelona in 2003...
. Laporta quickly became a media star, even more than some of the players.
First season in charge
His first season (2003/2004) as President would prove to be a watershed for the club, but not without initial instability. The club situation was one of bitter unhappiness and disappoinment amongst both fans and players after the club failed to meet their own standards to match Real MadridReal Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
's success in the early 2000s, having not won trophies since 1999.
Arrival of Frank Rijkaard
With Laporta's arrival, and that of football superstar RonaldinhoRonaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira , commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian national team as an attacking midfielder or forward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year, awarded to the best player over the year...
(his solution signing after Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
's decision to turn down the club) as well as new manager Frank Rijkaard
Frank Rijkaard
Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard is a Dutch football manager of Dutch and Surinamese descent and former player. Rijkaard has played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and Milan, and represented his national side 73 times, scoring 10 goals. In his coaching career, he has been at the helm of the Dutch national side,...
among others, the club was forced to embark on a new phase, having elected a new, young and largely untested managerial board along with him. Laporta also decided to fight against the threat of violence outside the Camp Nou
Camp Nou
Camp Nou , sometimes called "the Nou Camp" in English, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The stadium, located in the west of the city, has been the home of FC Barcelona since its construction in 1957....
stadium, specially from the Boixos Nois (Mad Boys) gang, and faced insults and death threats from them. Police investigation revealed they had planned to kidnap him. To exacerbate the situation, the 2003/04 season began abysmally results-wise, with Laporta constantly having to call for the fans' understanding and patience with him and Rijkaard as the club slowly phased out underachieving players from the old guard in order to rebuild a new-look side around Ronaldinho.
Laporta also had to spur his board to foster creative business ideas to raise revenue, and in recent years, that new style of management eventually succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the club with the team spectacularly returning to form and finishing second after being at the bottom of the table in 2003/2004, and then finally managing to win La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
titles both in 2004/05 and in 2005/2006. During this period, the inherited massive financial debt started to be cut down, and only two players remained from the original team that did not win a major title in six years, with players like Deco
Deco
Anderson Luís de Souza, OIH , commonly known as Deco, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese professional footballer who currently plays for Fluminense....
, Eto'o
Samuel Eto'o
Samuel Eto'o Fils is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala. He is also the current captain of the Cameroon national team.Eto'o trained at Kadji Sports Academy...
and Edmílson as the new starlets, around Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira , commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian national team as an attacking midfielder or forward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year, awarded to the best player over the year...
and a core of home-grown players like Carles Puyol
Carles Puyol
Carles Puyol i Saforcada is a Spanish footballer who plays for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team.Mainly a central defender, he can also play on either flank, especially as a right back...
, Xavi
Xavi
Xavier Hernández i Creus , commonly known as Xavi Hernández or simply Xavi , is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, where he has spent his entire 14-year career....
, Víctor Valdés
Víctor Valdés
Víctor Valdés i Arribas is a Spanish football goalkeeper who currently plays for FC Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga.He is the most successful goalkeeper in Barcelona's history and is widely considered to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world, having won a total of 17 titles including five...
and Oleguer Presas. The club finally won the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
on May 17, 2006, for only their second time in history, as well as that year's league trophy.
Criticism
Nonetheless, Laporta's management of the sports sections of the club, especially the basketball section, has been controversial. On June 2, 2005, he faced the resignation of five members of the club's board of directors including Sandro RosellSandro Rosell
Alexandre Rosell i Feliu , commonly known as Sandro Rosell, is the current president of FC Barcelona. With an MBA degree from ESADE, Rosell is known for being the running mate and senior adviser of Joan Laporta during the presidential elections at FC Barcelona in 2003...
. They accused him of having changed for the worse as a person, having adopted authoritarian traits and harbouring ambitions of power.
In October 2005, he faced a scandal, when his brother-in-law and member of the board of directors in charge of security, Alejandro Echevarría, was revealed to be a member of the Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
Foundation. After several denials by Echevarría and Laporta, contested by documents shown by a former member of the board of directors, Laporta was finally forced to accept Echevarría's resignation. Echevarría continued, however, to be close to the club and he organized the security during the celebrations of the 2005-2006 Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
championship.
Laporta's own political history added to the complications surrounding the Echevarría scandal, as his politics are diametrically opposed to those implied by Echevarría's membership of the Francisco Franco Foundation. Laporta is a self-described Catalan nationalist and has been identified on several occasions as supporting the independence of Catalonia from Spain. In the early 1990s, he and fellow Catalan politicians Pilar Rahola
Pilar Rahola
Pilar Rahola i Martínez is a Catalan journalist, writer, and former politician and MP.Rahola studied Spanish and Catalan Philology at the Universitat de Barcelona. She has published several books in Spanish and Catalan, and she is a columnist at La Vanguardia in Spain; La Nación in Argentina; ...
and Ángel Colom founded the now-defunct "Partit per la independencia", which supported Catalan separatism. He was also an active participant at the controversial Frankfurt Book Fair
Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. As to the number of visitors, the Turin Book Fair attracts about as many visitors, viz. some 300,000....
of 2007, at which Catalan language and culture were the special featured invitees, but not including other Catalonia-based authors who wrote in other languages, such as Spanish. At the fair, Laporta stated that he "hopes that FC Barcelona continues to be a tool to promote the Catalan language and culture" and to the contrary, he would feel obligated "to create the Catalan Republic of Barcelona".
Laporta has been accused of mixing the club with his own political agenda.
Re-election as club president
There was some discussion about when exactly Laporta's mandate started, with the board of directors holding one opinion and the opposition another. One club member went to the court and, on 19 July 2006 a judge ruled that the first eight days of his presidency in June 2003 counted as the first year of his four year term; his term had therefore expired and new elections were called. Temporarily, the club was ruled by a management committee led by the economist Xavier Sala-i-MartinXavier Sala-i-Martin
Xavier Sala-i-Martin is a professor of economics at Columbia University.Sala-i-Martin earned his degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1985 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1990, both in economics...
.
The elections were to be held on September 3, 2006, but they turned out not to be necessary. On August 22, Barcelona confirmed Joan Laporta's presidency for another four years after no other would-be candidate received the 1,804 signatures required to stand.
Vote of No Confidence
The poor results of the sports sections, especially in football, together with concerns about his leadership style, resulted in a censure motion which took place on 6 July 2008 and was led by Oriol Giralt. Exit polls showed that 60.60% of the 39,389 votes cast were against Laporta. However, even though he lost the overall vote, the necessary 66% to hold new elections was not achieved.Following the results, it was speculated that Laporta would resign due to pressure from fellow directors. This would have resulted in then vice-President Albert Vicens taking over from Laporta with Ferran Soriano replacing Vicens as the main vice-president. However these rumours were quickly dismissed by Laporta. On 10 July 2008, eight of the seventeen board members – vice-presidents Albert Vicens, Ferran Soriano and Marc Ingla, and directors Evarist Murtra, Toni Rovira, Xavier Cambra, Clàudia Vives-Fierro and Josep Lluís Vilaseca – resigned following Laporta's confirmation that he will stay as President of the club despite the opinion of the members. In a press statement, they revealed that they resigned due to "discrepancies in the way to act after the result of the motion."
The return of Pep Guardiola
After dismissing Frank Rijkaard, Laporta appointed the untested and inexperienced Josep GuardiolaJosep Guardiola
Josep "Pep" Guardiola i Sala , is a Spanish football manager and former player. Guardiola played as a defensive midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career with FC Barcelona, whom he currently manages. He was part of Johan Cruyff's dream team that won Barcelona's first European Cup....
, the team captain at the end of the Dream Team era. Guardiola's only experience as a coach was with the B team the previous season (which won promotion from the 4th tier to the 3rd). Although the team started poorly, losing the first match to Numancia and drawing the second, Barcelona had the best season in its history, winning the treble of the League, the Cup, and the Champions League. The Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup followed in August, and the FIFA Club World Cup in December.
Political activities
Laporta has long been involved in politics. In 1996, he joined the Independence PartyPartit per la Independència
Partit per la Independència was a short lived political party in Catalonia of the 1990s that campaigned for independence for Catalonia from Spain. It was created by Àngel Colom and Pilar Rahola in 1996 as a schism from Republican Left of Catalonia, another independentist party...
, formed by Pilar Rahola
Pilar Rahola
Pilar Rahola i Martínez is a Catalan journalist, writer, and former politician and MP.Rahola studied Spanish and Catalan Philology at the Universitat de Barcelona. She has published several books in Spanish and Catalan, and she is a columnist at La Vanguardia in Spain; La Nación in Argentina; ...
and Àngel Colom, former members of the Republican Left of Catalonia.
Laporta has long held ambitions to enter Spanish politics
Politics of Spain
The politics of Spain take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy, whereby the Monarch is the Head of State and the President of the Government is the head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is vested in the government...
after leaving office as president of FC Barcelona. He has in the past been outspoken about his political affiliations: he supports Catalan independence from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
is seen by many as a symbol of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, a generally accepted fact which Laporta often emphasizes but has been criticized by non-Catalan fans of the team.
Following the end of his second term as president, Laporta formed the independence-seeking political party Democràcia Catalana (Catalan Democracy). In the summer of 2010, Laporta's party merged with other extra-parliamentary pro-independence parties and grassroots movements into a political platform called Catalan Solidarity for Independence. laporta was elected its president.
In the Catalan elections of 28th November 2010
Catalonian parliamentary election, 2010
Elections to fill 135 seats of the Parliament of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Spain, were held on Sunday, 28 November 2010.-Electoral process:-Candidatures with current parliamentary representation:...
, the new party managed to achieve 4 seats in the 135-member Catalan Parliament, making it the sixth largest party out of seven. Laporta was elected in the circumscription of Barcelona.
In 2011, Laporta stepped down as president of the Catalan Solidarity for Independence and left the party.
Trophies won by club during presidency
- La LigaLa LigaThe Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
(4):- 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09La Liga 2008-09-Personnel and sponsoring: FC Barcelona have no shirt sponsors, instead choosing to sport the logo of humanitarian organisation, UNICEF. Barcelona donates five million euros every year to the organisation and wears the organisation's logo on its jersey....
, 2009-10
- 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09
- Copa del ReyCopa del ReyThe Copa del Rey is an annual football cup competition for Spanish football teams. Its full name is Campeonato de España – Copa de Su Majestad el Rey de Fútbol ....
(1):- 2008-09
- Supercopa de EspañaSupercopa de EspañaThe Supercopa de España is a Spanish football championship contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey...
(3):- 20052005 Supercopa de EspañaThe 2005 Supercopa de España was a two-leg Spanish football match played on 13 and 20 August 2005.It contested by league champions FC Barcelona and cup-winners Real Betis. FC Barcelona won 4–2 on aggregate.-First leg:-Second leg:-References:...
, 20062006 Supercopa de EspañaThe 2006 Supercopa de España was a two-leg Spanish football match played on 17 and 20 August 2006.It was contested by league champions FC Barcelona and cup-winners RCD Espanyol . FC Barcelona won 4–0 on aggregate.-First leg:...
, 20092009 Supercopa de EspañaThe 2009 Supercopa de España was two-legged Spanish football match-up played on 16 August and 23 August 2009. It was contested by Athletic Bilbao, the 2008–09 Copa del Rey runners-up, and FC Barcelona, the 2008–09 Primera División Winners....
- 2005
- UEFA Champions LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
(2):- 2005-06, 2008-09
- UEFA Super Cup (1):
- 20092009 UEFA Super CupThe 2009 UEFA Super Cup was the 34th UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions...
- 2009
- FIFA Club World CupFIFA Club World CupThe FIFA Club World Cup is a football competition between the champion clubs from all six continental confederations.The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in January 2000...
(1)- 20092009 FIFA Club World Cup FinalThe 2009 FIFA Club World Cup Final was the final match of the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup, a football tournament for the champion clubs from each of FIFA's six continental confederations...
- 2009