Barcelona’s board of directors resigned on Wednesday following a judicial ruling that paves the way for new elections at the Catalan giants later this year, the club announced.
The resignation had been expected after a Spanish judge last week ordered the European champions to hold fresh polls for the board after club members complained regulations had been broken.
The ruling came after three members took legal action, complaining that the current directors should only have been in place until June 30 this year, while the board itself claimed it could continue until 2007.
”The FC Barcelona board of directors, together with President Joan Laporta, resigned this lunchtime, leaving the club in the hands of a caretaker board ahead of the upcoming elections,” the club said in a statement.
Laporta, who has delivered two Primera Liga titles and a Champions League crown during his reign, is expected to be returned to the presidency unopposed.
The caretaker board later set a date of September 3 for the presidential elections, with candidates given a window from August 12 to 21 to present their cases. The list of runners will be announced between August 22 and 24.
A Catalan tribunal in Barcelona on Tuesday rejected demands for Laporta to be declared ineligible to take part in the election. — Sapa-AFP